New Kid On The Block
by Mitch 566
Summary: When Blaze, an anthro tiger is discovered to have recieved powers from the meteor strike, he is recruited by the Loonatics. But will Blaze's troubled past interfere with his new life as a cime-fighting hero?
1. Escape!

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 1 – Escape!

**Hey Guys! I'm Mitch 566. This is my first Fic and I hope you guys enjoy. Please give me your comments and feedback and any ideas you might have. And Before I go any further, I would just like to remind you that I don't own LU, but I do own the plot of this story and any characters that you are unfamiliar with ;). Enjoy!**

It was a beautiful evening in the city of Acmetropolis. The sun was slowly setting as dusk engulfed the city. All over the city, lights were turning on one by one as if millions of fireflies were slowly awakening from sleep. It looked as if it was going to be another lovely evening. But all was not well…

Sirens echoed everywhere as the streets below were engulfed in a sea of havoc. Acmetropolis' new squad of police robots were out in force. Since the robots had been introduced to the streets, the crime rate had dropped dramatically.

Slowly but surely, a calm feeling had begun to settle onto the city like cool frost resting on the grass. But tonight was different…

An anthro tiger looked over his shoulder as he sprinted down the street to see a wave of flashing robots in hot pursuit of him. _Man, these guys just don't quit do they _the tiger thought to himself.

Blaze Tiger was a 21 year-old anthro tiger. He was tall and modestly muscular for his build with deep golden eyes and a spiked up crop of black hair. His clothes were tattered and he had muck on his face, but other than that, he was a magnificent looking anthro. But a key feature of Blaze was that he loved a challenge.

"_**All this for a loaf of bread!" **_he chuckled to himself as he ran.

Blaze had endured a very hard life so far. As a youngster he had been abandoned by his mother, although from what he remembered, she was a very loving mother. He had never understood why she deserted him. Blaze had joined a gang of homeless boys and for 2 years, he ate rough, he slept rough and he suffered rough along with the others. But after these two years, Blaze and the others were taken in by an orphanage. It treated them well and for some time, the boys had a taste of the good life. However, while the other boys had come out of their shells and had become normal young boys, Blaze had distanced himself. The scars of his past had never left him. Even the kindness that the people at the orphanage had shown him could not heal his wounds. It had left Blaze with a cold manner; he bottled everything up and never released it. He had only shown his true feeling to one person... But other than that, the young anthro had kept to himself. He had developed an aggressive attitude. And since he was a tiger anthro, he was unpredictable… The orphanage had no choice but to let him go. And from then on, Blaze had lived as an outlaw.

He had been alone for 15 years and in that time, Blaze had become a master of survival. He knew all the places to hide, and all the places to steal food from without getting caught. Blaze didn't like stealing food, it left him feeling guilty, but how else was he going to survive? Because he had grown up on the streets, he hadn't gone to school so he didn't have any qualifications. And in this day and age, that meant getting a job was very tricky indeed. But the important thing that Blaze had achieved while being on his own, was that he had discovered who he was. He still came across as cold to others, but he had become at peace with himself, he had begun to show his true colours. A young, boisterous tiger that loved a laugh and although he didn't show it, deep down he was kind.

But since the robots introduced, life had become much harder for Blaze, he had to work extremely hard for even the simplest things such as food. And today, was no exception.

_Phew, I dunno if I can keep this up much longer_ thought the anthro tiger. And what was worse, as he looked back again he instantly saw that the wave of robots was gaining on him like a predator closing in on its helpless pray. At this rate, there was no way he was getting away. Up ahead however, he saw an opening to an alleyway. It was an alleyway he knew well, and one he had used many times to escape. _Let's see 'em keep up with me in here _Blaze thought to himself triumphantly.

As he reached the opening, like lightning he darted left. The tiger's sudden change of direction surprised the robots and many of them flew right by it before stopping and turning back.

Blaze turned his head to find that his trick had worked perfectly. **"Haha, too slow"** said the tiger in a cocky voice. But the tiger was about to get a surprise. As he turned his attention back towards the way he was running, he saw it. **"Darn it!" **Blaze shouted to himself as he skidded to a halt. He had reached a dead end.

"**I had a funny feeling I turned too soon" **stated Blaze to himself as he smacked his head. **"It's the one AFTER the Hover-bus stop Blaze, not BEFORE it!" **He dropped his head in disappointment at his mistake as he told himself off. Blaze was in the middle of a large square surrounded by tall buildings from all sides. And the only way out, was the way he had come in. He was trapped.

Behind him, the square started to fill with robots. Their lights were flashing but they had turned their sirens off.

Blaze knew they were there but didn't turn around as he thought about what he was going to do now. _Hmm, looks like I'm stuck _the anthro thought to himself_ doesn't look like I'm getting outta this one does it. Unless… _Blaze hadn't used his powers in a long time, and he had never used them in public because he knew that if he did he would draw a lot of unnecessary attention to himself. But the situation that he was in right now meant that didn't really matter anymore. _It's the only way I'm gunna get outta this. And anyway, I've kept this a secret for too long_._ Well, here goes nothing… _said Blaze to himself.

"**Don't move, you are under arrest." **stated the lead robot from behind the tiger.

Blaze chuckled, and slowly, he turned around.

"**Thanks for the offer metal head, but I think I'm gunna decline" **said Blaze with a smirk. As he said this, his deep golden eyes turned a dark blue and his whole body was surrounded by a deep sea blue aura.

Blaze smiled showing his brilliant white teeth. And then, raising his clenched fists he shouted **"This Party is over!" **And with that he launched himself high into the air, did a couple of graceful summersaults and then, like a missile he smashed down onto the ground right into the middle of the robots and in a wave of dark blue light, they all flew backwards, many of them smashing into pieces as they collided with the sides of the buildings. The ones that were still intact stood back up to face the tiger anthro.

Blaze stood with a confident look on his face, he smiled again and took a fighting stance. And in a cool and collected manner, the formidable tiger anthro asked the dazzled robots: **"Ready for round 2?"**

**Haha didn't expect that didya? :-P hope you guys enjoyed the story, and Blaze! Next chapter will be up soon.**


	2. Mission: Recruitment

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 2 – Mission: Recruitment 

**Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Right, so after meeting my character "Blaze Tiger" we now transition over to the Loonatics to see what they were up to while the events of the first chapter were happening. Enjoy! **

Meanwhile…

On the 125th floor of the Loonatics HQ things were normal. Ace was meditating on his floating platform, Lexi was listening to music on her IPod touch 7000, Duck was trying on a cape while lovingly looking at himself in the mirror, Slam was gorging on a 27-decker sandwich that had taken him ages to make and Tech and Rev were on the couch fiddling with some of Tech's "toys".

"**It's amazing how an Anthro can look so darn good looking" **Duck said while examining his outfit. **"Aww thanks Duck" **responded Lexi cleverly which was met by a chuckle from Ace, and a look of annoyance from Duck. **"Have I ever told you that you're despicable?" **responded Duck. **"Every day, and I never get tired of hearing it" **said the pink bunny with a smirk.

Ace opened his eyes and got down off his platform to hear raised voices coming from where Rev and Tech were sitting on the couch. The leader of the Loonatics rolled his eyes and smiled as he had a quick stretch. After that he wandered over to the coyote and the roadrunner to see what they were bickering about this time.

"**What's up docs?" **Ace asked in his usual cool voice. Tech turned around and stared up at Ace** "Oh hey chief. Not much, just Rev being a pain by messing with my inventions, AGAIN"** Rev overhead this and responded in his 100mph voice **"Well-excuse-me-if-im-just-trying-to-help-you-and-you-don't-want-it-but-now-that-i-think-about-it-i-suppose-you-don't-really-need-help-being-a-genius-and-all-but-sti-****"**Tech clamped Revs beak was clamped shut before he could say another word. **"I think we get the picture Rev Buddy" **said thecoyote.

Ace chuckled at the two best friends. **"Hey by the way Tech, did ya remember ta order a VEGITARIAN pizza for me and Lex dis time?" **asked the bunny with a wry smile on his face. **"Haha yeah don't worry chief, I've learned from my mistakes" **replied Tech with a grimace recalling a week ago when he accidentally ordered Ace and Lexi an extra-large Meat Feast pizza completely forgetting that they were vegetarians. As punishment, Tech had to walk all the way down to the pizza place, which was a long way, get the vegetarian pizza that they had wanted to order in the first place, and then run back to HQ in time before the pizza got cold. He had taken extra care to get the order right this time. And you can understand why.

Ace smiled **"Good. Cos I wouldn't want ya ta have ta walk all de way to de pizza place again!"** said the bunny and then patted the coyote on the shoulder.

He then walked towards the window passing Slam as the Tasmanian devil stuffed the last mouthful of his massive sandwich into his mouth. Ace looked back at him and joked "**I dunno how ya do it Slam old pal"** Slam responded with a wide grin showing his giant set of teeth.

DING!

"**WOHOO! Pizzas are here!" **shouted Duck in an excited voice as he dashed towards the elevator.

Ace looked out of the window down at the streets bellow. It was completely dark now. It never ceased to amaze Ace how many different coloured lights there were to be seen throughout the city. However, the prominent colours tonight were blue and red flashing lights. They were twisting and turning through the labyrinth of streets. Ace frowned at the sight. He was getting used to seeing sirens around the city after the robots entered commission, but he had never seen this many before.

"**That's a lot of sirens" **stated Lexi as she walked up behind her leader and stood next to him. Ace couldn't hear the sirens, but Lexi obviously could due to her enhanced hearing. The bunnies stood and stared and then suddenly, a massive dark blue glow erupted from the centre of the sirens. Ace and Lexi threw a concerned glance at each other. **"Hmm"** muttered Ace as he slowly nodded. **"Summin is definitely going down out dere."**

Lexi nodded in agreement. **"Hey Chief, you have enhanced vision, can you see what's going on?" **she asked Ace. The male bunny squinted slightly as he focused his sapphire blue eyes on the havoc below. He stayed like this for a few seconds but then finally shook his head and blinked. **"Na, de buildings are blockin my view. I can't see nuttin." He said.**

As soon as Ace said this, the console/table in the middle of the room bleeped twice before a hologram appeared revealing the boss lady herself: Zadavia.

The queen of Freleng had a serious look on her face and her hair was blowing about in its usual fashion when she appeared on hologram. And then she uttered the immortal words she always said when first addressing the Loonatics.

"**Loonatics, we have a problem…"**

Ace looked round at the hologram. **"You got dat right Zadavia, I've never seen so many flashin lights! And dat weird blue light looks fishy." **He looked back to the window and watched the lights.

Tech and Rev had gotten up and were walking towards the central console. Behind them the elevator opened and out wandered Duck. Only his body was visible as his face was covered by the stack of Pizzas he was carrying. He clearly had no idea what was going on.

"**Phew! These things are a lot heavier than they look! That pizza boy will have muscles like boulders if he carries on delivering these babies!" **he joked. He finally set them down on the table in front of the couch. **"Right, who's got the napkins? I'm starvi-" **Duck cut himself short as he finally saw what was going on.

"**Ah you're just in time Duck" **said Zadavia with a wry smile.

Duck chuckled nervously** "Oh hey boss lady! I take it the universe calls on us once again to kick evil's butt."**

"**You would think so Duck, but not exactly." **replied Zadavia, her face looking more serious now. The rest of the Loonatics were just as baffled as Duck and for a few seconds, there was silence.

Tech eventually broke it** "So what's with all the sirens?" **The Loonatics all looked at Zadavia, ready for the answer.

"Watch this" she replied. Moments later, Zadavia's image disappeared and was replaced by a video feed. The quality was poor but the Loonatics could still see what was going on. The top right hand corner of the video had the Acmetropolis police department badge on it indicating that the video was being taken by a police bot.

The video showed that that they were in hot pursuit of somebody, an anthro. It was hard to make out but judging by the black and orange stripes he was a tiger anthro. His clothes were tattered and in his hand was what looked like a loaf of bread. He was very fast, but unfortunately for him, the robots were faster as the tiger seemed to get closer and closer as the pursuing robots closed in on him. Suddenly the tiger took a left turn and disappeared out of sight. There was a bit of confusion before finally the filming bot turned down the street too. The dark street was illuminated by the flashing police lights and eventually the bot came into a clearing. The bot evidently stopped and the video showed that the tiger had run into a dead end. He had his back to the bots.

"**What the heck is the point of this?" commented Duck suddenly "It's just a tiger stealing a loaf of bread. We fight super-villains not stupid anthros with nothing better to do than steal loaves of bread. We have more important things to do, like EATING PIZZA!"**

The others all gave him a look that basically said "shut up Duck."

Duck rolled his eyes and with a sigh looked back at the video.

On the video, the tiger turned around revealing his face.

"**Ooooo he's cute" **Commented Lexi with a smile. Ace shot her a quick, envious look which she didn't see.

Back on the video, the tiger's eyes suddenly turned a deep blue and he was surrounded by an aura which was the same colour as his eyes. He raised his fists and then suddenly launched into the air. The camera looked up and showed as the tiger plummeted down with tremendous speed right into the middle of the police bots. There was a sudden flash of dark blue, and then the screen went black.

The Loonatics shared a look of shock, especially Duck.

The image of Zadavia reappeared. **"As you can see Loonatics, this is no ordinary anthro."** She said.

"**Looks like we aint de only anthros dat got powers from de meteor" **commented Ace as his normal face returned.

Rev was the next to speak. **"Sooooo-lemme-guess,-you-want-us-to-head-on-down-there,-show-that-tiger-who's-boss,-capture-him-and-put-him-in-the-pokey,-return-the-loaf-of-bread-to-its-rightful-owner-and-then-everybody-is-happy-again."**

"**Not exactly Rev" **replied Zadavia in a mysterious tone.

Duck looked annoyed **"So what do you want us to do then? Go down there, shake his hand and give him a medal if he promises never to steal again?" **he said sarcastically with a look of disbelief.

"**Oh my gosh, ENOUGH with the jokes Duck! This is serious!"** said Lexi in an annoyed voice.

"**So what do ya want us te do Zadavia?" **asked Ace.

Zadavia explained **"This tiger's intentions are clearly not bad judging by the state of his clothing and the fact that he is stealing bread. He is just trying to survive" **she said with a tinge of sadness.** "And since he is obviously powerful, I think that with a little help, he would be a great asset to the Loonatics." **

They knew where she was going with this now. **"So you want us to recruit him?" **asked Tech.** "Exactly" **replied Zadavia looking at the coyote.** "But be cautious Loonatics" **she continued **"he will probably not trust you at first so you will have to persuade him. And if reason doesn't work, you will have to beat him into submission to make him realise that your intentions are good. But remember, he doesn't have a suit that makes him impervious to physical harm like you do so try not to hurt him." **The 6 of them nodded** "Good luck Loonatics. Zadavia, out…" **And with that, her hologram disappeared.

"**Sweet! New teammate!"** said Lexi with a smile.

Slam agreed **"nedj tetmty!" **(New teammate)

"**Aww man! The pizza's gunna go cold!" **Sulked Duck as his head sunk.

Everyone went off and got their jetpacks and they met up at the landing pad, suited, booted and ready to go. When the 6 of them were present, Ace asked them **"Everyone ready?"** His fellow Loonatics all nodded eagerly. **"Good stuff, right…"**

"**Let's Jet!"**

**So there we go! The Loonatics are now on their way to confront the mysterious Blaze. What's gunna happen? Next chapter will be up soon so that you can find out. Hope you enjoyed **

**P.S. Before you ask NO! I do not plan to create a romance between Blaze and Lexi. I am an ACEXI fan all the way and believe that Ace and Lexi belong with nobody else but each other! ;)**


	3. The First Meeting

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 3 – The First Meeting

**Hey guys! Sorry that it took a little while to upload this chapter, I'm in the middle of my GCSE's atm so I don't have much free time! But yeah, in this chapter Blaze and the Loonatics meet for the first time. Will they be able to reason with him? Or will there be a fight? Time to find out! Enjoy **

Blaze's POV:

Blaze spun around in mid-air and smashed kicked the robot closest to him in the face knocking its head clean off in a shower of sparks. He landed gracefully back on solid ground as more bots closed in on him.

_Phew, this is a good workout _thought Blaze to himself with a chuckle. He prepared himself for the oncoming wave of robots.

The bot closest to him swung his metallic arm at Blaze; he effortlessly dodged it and then grabbed the very arm he had just dodged, grabbing it with both hands and swung it round, swinging the entire robot with it. With a crash, metal met metal as Blaze swung the robot like a baseball bat into another oncoming robot sending it flying. Blaze swung once more and then released his iron grip on the robot sending it crashing into the closest building.

Blaze regained his balance with ease as another metallic fist flew towards him. He quickly ducked as the arm whooshed overhead. Blaze then drove his fist upwards upper cutting the robot in the chin causing it to stumble backwards. Blaze used this moment of weakness to his advantage and he force palmed the bot in the torso knocking it over.

As the robot fell to the ground with a crash, more ran at him. _This is stupid. There is so many of them! If I didn't know any better I'd say I was up against the entire Acmetropolis Police force _observed Blaze in annoyance. And he was right, they kept coming. Everywhere were the broken frames of robots that Blaze had destroyed. But no matter how many he knocked down, they just kept on coming.

_Right, I've had just about enough of this _said the tiger as he frowned _let's see em get back up from this_. Blaze took position as he planted his feet firmly on the ground to steady himself as he started gathering what energy he had left. The bots were closing in… _Wait for it_ thought Blaze to himself as he continued to bundle up his energy. He wanted to wait until the last possible moment for a maximum effect. He continued to charge for a few more seconds and then finally… _"_**Ready" **said the anthro tiger to himself.

His eyes started to glow dark blue and his aura started to emit from him again. Blaze smiled and then he shouted **"Eat this you waste of tin!" **and with that he slammed both his fists into the ground shaking it and cracking the surrounding buildings. The energy that Blaze released was incredible. The energy flowed from Blaze into the ground through the impact creating a blue shockwave which headed straight towards the oncoming robots obliterating them in a haze of blue electricity.

The shockwave lasted for a few more seconds, shaking the ground until it eventually stopped. Such a burst of energy had left Blaze exhausted, and it didn't help that he had spent the last half an hour fighting non-stop. He collapsed to the ground panting.

He had done it. Inbetween his deep breaths he chuckled slightly. **"That's…. what I'm….. talking…. about…" **the exhausted tiger joked with a smile. But his relief was short lived…

In the distance Blaze's sensitive ears were picking up something he had got sick of hearing: more sirens. **"Haha, are you actually having a laugh?" **Blaze said aloud in disbelief as he slammed the ground with his fist in frustration. He had regained his normal breathing rate so he slowly stood up. Then suddenly, he picked up another sound. He looked up, he recognised that sound but he couldn't make light of it, and then his eyes widened. He recognised the sound now: Jetpacks…

Loonatics' POV:

"**Whoa, did you see that?" **Lexi asked after witnessing the shockwave. Ace responded in a voice with a slight hint of fear **"I felt dat Lex." **The Loonatics gave each other shocked looks. Whoever this Blaze was, he was powerful… To be able to take on the entire Acmetropolis police robot force single handed and hold your own is one thing. But to actually BEAT them is a whole different story.

"**This is so baffling. Those robots are made with Blancxeterium; the hardest metal this side of the galaxy. Those robots should be close to indestructible. I should know, I invented them." **Explained Tech. **"But this guy is making them look like a load of rust buckets" **he continued.

Ace was deep in thought. _Dis guy is gunna be tough ta beat_ he reasoned within himself. Then his ears caught the sound of the approaching sirens. It took a few seconds of deep thought but the leader of the Loonatics had a plan. "**Okay team dis is what we're gunna do…" **Ace started to explain **"I'd rather not fight dis guy unless it's absolutely necessary so I'm gunna try and reason wid him. You guys gotta buy me some time. So what I need ya ta do is go and stop those police bots ok?" **He waited for everyone's nod of approval, but Rev had a query **"Shouldn't-one-of-us-come-with-you-chief-incase-he-gets-aggresive?" **the roadrunner asked. Ace thought for a moment but then shook his head **"Na I'll be ok. Besides, he will feel more threatened if dere is more dan one of us."** They all pondered on this for a second but then realised that their leader was right. **"Okay let's do dis."**

As the others flew towards the approaching army of police bots, Ace slowly flew towards the square where Blaze was staring up from. He thought about what he was going to say and how he would react if the tiger got aggressive. Ace finally flew over the top of the building looking down on the square and saw him for the first time. Blaze was standing in the middle of the square, with carnage all around him. Ace cautiously descended towards the ground, Blaze's golden eyes following him the whole time. He finally landed. Ace shut down his jetpack and got his first real look at the tiger that had been causing all this havoc. In terms of build, Ace noticed that he was very similar to himself; about the same height and same muscularity. Blaze had clearly been in the wars, he had scratches on his arms and a shallow cut on his left cheek. His clothes were tattered, affirming that he was homeless, but this fact made the tiger all the more fearsome. The thing that captured Ace most about Blaze was his eyes. They were a deep golden colour like a raging fire, and deep as if they were windows leading into his very inner being.

The two anthros stood staring at each other. The atmosphere could have been cut with a knife until eventually, Ace broke the ice.

"**What's up doc" **spoke the bunny in a cool voice. Blaze's facial expression didn't change and for a few seconds, he just stood there, not budging. But then suddenly, he spoke **"Don't try and sweet talk me" **he said in an ice cold manner. **"I know who you are and I know what you're here for and I'm telling you now, I'm not gunna let you just walk up to me and cuff me ok. I stole a loaf of bread so what. I'm just a tiger trying to survive. I know you couldn't care less about that considering that I just wiped out most of the Acmetropolis police force, but I've never been one for accepting authority. So if you want me in cuffs you're gunna have to force them on me."**

He had a very commanding voice Ace noticed, he spoke with conviction and authority. Ace wasn't surprised by the tiger's response. He had expected it, and he knew exactly what to say in response.

"**Na you got it all wrong doc. I aint here ta arrest ya. I know about your powers. Well, ta be honest it was pretty hard not to" **Ace commented with a smile** "And I know ya didn't mean any harm before all of… this." **The yellow bunny said as he gestured to the havoc around him** "Considerin that ya know who I am must mean ya know who de Loonatics are aswell, well we would like ya ta join us. I must say ya have some pretty awesome powers, and we could use an anthro like you. Whadaya say?"**

Ace looked hopefully at Blaze whose facial expression remained blank. After a few moments, Blaze uttered a low chuckle. An evil smile appeared on his face. **"So that's it huh? Everyone just forgets about the fact that I just wiped out an entire police robot division, I walk away scotch free and become a hero/crime fighter? Haha, I don't think so… I know exactly what you are doing, trying to get me to lower my defences so that you can spring the trap on me unsuspectingly" **stated Blaze with an angry voice and a frown **"Well I got news for you bunny, I'm a lot smarter than I look, and to be honest, I am really not in the mood for getting screwed around with right now." **the tiger continued. His tone was starting to get threatening.

Ace frowned as he detected the sudden increase of hostility in Blaze's voice. **"I'm not screwing with ya, I'm being serious! You gotta believe me." **Ace said as he started to get cautious. Blaze seemed unpredictable Ace thought to himself, he was clearly not happy so Ace had to be on his guard.

Blaze's frown deepened, he was clearly getting agitated. **"I'm not buying it" **said the tiger with a slight row.** "I'm not buying it now, and even if we stand here for the next hour and you keep trying to convince me I still won't be buying it. So why don't we just get this over with."**

Ace surrendered. He had tried but there was no way he was getting through to the tiger. There was only one thing for it… **"Fine, I gave ya a chance, but if you're gunna be stubborn and not see that I'm here ta help ya, then I'll have ta beat it inta ya."**

Blaze growled at Ace's remark. **"We'll see…" **said Blaze in a dark voice. He was tired but there was still some fight in him. If he was going out, then he was going out in style. He took his usual fighting stance and opposite him, Ace did the same.

The board was set. Ace's eyes turned yellow as he took out his Guardian Strike Sword and prepared to attack.

Blaze's eyes turned blue and he clenched his fists as they became shrouded in his blue aura. **"Let's do this" **Blaze said to himself out loud.

They were ready…

**Whoa! Things are really kicking off now aren't they! So Blaze and Ace are going toe to toe, anthro to anthro in an epic clash. Its gunna be a kick-ass fight so do NOT miss it! Next chapter will be up ASAP! **

**P.S Thank you guys so much for your reviews, they really make my day. Loonaticslover13 I nearly fainted when u saw you reviewed ;) thank you so much and I'm glad you are enjoying the story. And Fairytale River thanks a lot for your idea. I did consider doing a Blaze, Ace and Lexi love triangle in this Fic but I have other ideas for Blaze's love life concerning the mystery person mentioned in his past in chapter 1 ;) but I will bring in a love interest for Blaze in the sequel to this Fic, but thanks a lot for your idea all the same and feel free to give me any other ideas **

**Thanks guys**


	4. Lets do this

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 4 – "Let's do this"

**Hey guys! My bad that you guys had a lil bit to wait for this chapter, but it's a very important one though so I wanted to take my time to get it right. Just a heads up, this chapter is twice as long as the first chapter so get some popcorn or something and get ready for some mega action! :) So here we go! Blaze refuses to listen to what Ace has to say, which can only mean one thing! FIGHT! And I promise you, it's one hell of a fight! Who will come out on top? The mysterious and powerful Blaze (who hopefully you guys have fallen in love with ;)), or the totally awesome leader of the Loonatics who we all love already: Ace. Time to find out! Hope u guys enjoy it! **

Ace and Blaze circled the square keeping note of the others every move. They kept their eyes fixed on each other, daring the other to make the first move. However, Blaze was at a disadvantage. Apart from his short temper, Blaze's biggest failing was his patience. It had got him into trouble plenty of times in the past and was one of the reasons he had to be released by the orphanage. And right now, it was running short.

Ace on the other hand kept his cool remembering what Zadavia had told him. The tiger wasn't wearing a suit like the other Loonatics so he could easily be hurt. Aces battle strategy was to let Blaze attack him until he wore himself out.

_He already looks tired after all de fightin he just done _reasoned Ace. But he was in for a big surprise.

Even though patience was a weakness for Blaze, endurance was his big strength. Because he lived on the streets, he had a lot of time to burn so he used to spend all day jogging around the city. This constant exercise had left the tiger in fantastic shape.

_Enough of this _Blaze thought to himself. He then ran with incredible speed straight at Ace. The leader of the Loonatics readied himself. He raised his guardian strike sword up into a defensive position.

When he was about 10 metres away, Blaze did a small jump and looked like he was flying as he soared towards Ace. He was close now…

A burst of energy engulfed Blaze as he swung his powerful arm straight at Aces head. Ace didn't have time to dodge it so he slightly moved the flat face of his sword into the path of the oncoming punch to block it. As Blaze's fist clashed with the sword, Ace skidded backwards as the force of the punch surged through the swords blade. The yellow bunny finally came to a stop and was just regaining his balance when Blaze came flying at him again. This time Ace didn't have time to do anything. Blaze shifted in mid-air and drove his foot straight into Ace's chest sending him crashing into the building behind him. Ace grunted from the impact as he got up to face the tiger again.

Blaze's speed had surprised Ace. _Looks like I'm gunna have ta turn it up a notch _he thought to himself. He slowly started walking back to the middle of the square. Blaze glared at him as the bunny moved towards him, his golden eyes not even blinking

Ace finally stopped about 15 metres from Blaze. He was impressed, **"Not bad doc" **Ace commended him **"much better dan I thought you would be." **Blaze smiled at the loonatic's words **"You aint seen nothing yet buddy"** he replied in a cool manner. He ran at Ace again and started throwing punches, but Ace was prepared for Blaze's immense speed now and was able to dodge all of them.

After a while Blaze realised he was being too obvious, so he started getting creative by throwing in spin kicks and aiming punches at Aces abdomen. Ace was still able to deal with the oncoming blows but the speed and variety of Blaze's attacks were slowly starting to wear away at the bunny's defences. Eventually, Blaze started landing some blows on Ace and then in a great combo move, Blaze unexpectedly grabbed Ace's sword hand and pulled the bunny towards him and drove his aura engulfed right fist into Ace's stomach.

There was a burst of energy as blue electricity surged through Ace causing him to double over in pain. Blaze then finished the job by letting go of Ace's sword hand and then twisting around on the spot and delivering a powerful smash kick to the loonatic's right cheek. The force of the kick sent Ace crashing into the building to his left. The bunny hit the wall so hard that he broke through it and flew straight through the inside of the building until he crashed into the building's other wall, colliding with it at a tremendous speed.

Ace lay there motionless for a few moments breathing deeply. He was in excruciating pain. The combination of the large welt on his cheek where Blaze's foot had made contact, the impact of crashing through a thick wall, and the massive electrocution he had received made him hurt all over his body. The Bunny uttered a deep long groaned. **"Ya do realise this means war" **the bunny said quietly. Ace slowly sat up and started to think to himself _dis guy is too good, I can't just sit here and take hits like dat_ he thought to himself _I have to fight back._

Ace slowly stood up grunting from the effort. He then started making his way through the hole that he had made in the building. It had taken quite a beating. Ace had broken through 3 walls in total and rubble was everywhere _whoever lives here aint goin ta be very happy when dey get home_ the leader of the Loonatics thought to himself as he walked through the building. He finally emerged from the building to see Blaze glaring at him with his beautiful golden eyes.

Ace made the small jump back into the square which had now turned into a full blown battle arena. _Dis guy's good man, time to turn up de heat. Dis should be fun _Ace thought to himself. He clearly was not going to be able to wear Blaze out anytime soon. He was going to actually have to _beat _Blaze in a fight rather than let him run out of gas.

"**Hehe, I underestimated ya big time"** Ace joked. Blaze frowned deeply and quickly responded **"Yeah you did. But you didn't have to make it so easy for me bunny." **Ace chuckled at the tiger's remark. **"True. But believe me; I aint goin easy on ya anymore" **smirked the leader of the loonatics. Blaze quickly smirked as he positioned himself to fight once more and then shortly said **"Good..."**

Ace kicked up his sword which he had dropped when he was electrocuted and caught it. Both of them were ready. Now it would really be decided. They stared at each other, Ace with his sapphire blue eyes, Blaze with his fiery golden eyes. There wasn't going to be any waiting games this time. Following this mirrored decision by both anthros, both of them leaped into the air simultaneously spearing towards each other like javelins.

Lexis POV:

"**Okay good job guys, right let's get back to chief" **said Lexi as the robots turned round the corner and disappeared. **"Erm, ex-CUSE me, who put you in charge?" **inquired Duck. Behind him, Tech smacked his head and rev rolled his eyes.

Lexi turned to face Duck, an annoyed expression on her face **"Erm Ace did when he made me second-in-command you pea brain" **the bunny responded as she turned back around and started to walk away. Slam, Tech and Rev followed suit. **"I don't remember that happening" **Duck added sarcastically as he began to follow the others.

They fired up their jetpacks and blasted upwards. **"Hey uh, where's the square?" **Lexi asked her teammates as she hovered looking all around. **"I-dunno-but-it's-gotta-be-around-here-somewhere-unless-it's-dissapeared-which-now-that-I-think-about-it-is-highly-unlikely-considering-that-a-square-couldn't-possibly-d…" **Rev was cut short as Tech's hand enclosed his beak.

"**Lebj obty tufey" **Slam pointed excitedly to a mixed glow of blue and yellow. Blaze and Ace's encounter was clearly heating up. "**Nice one Slam" **commended Lexi as she patted the Tasmanian devil on the back **"let's go"**. The loonatics jetted towards the square where all hell was breaking loose…

Blaze and Ace's POV:

Blaze jumped backwards with a backflip as he dodged a blast from Ace's laser vision. When he landed on his feet, the tiger responded by bringing together his hands creating a blue electro gyro ball which he flung at Ace with all his might. Ace just managed to dodge the gyro ball which exploded against the building behind Ace creating a hole.

The leader of the loonatics then ran at Blaze, raising his Guardian Strike Sword above his head ready to attack. Blaze picked up a plate of metal which had clearly come off of one of the broken bots, to act as a shield. Blaze then turned back towards Ace as the bunny approached. Ace swung his sword at the tiger but Blaze easily blocked the slash with his makeshift shield.

Blaze kept his eyes on Ace the whole time and continued to block as the loonatic continued to slash and stab viciously with his sword. Blaze just kept blocking, waiting for Ace to leave himself vulnerable. Even if it was just for a second, it would be enough for the tiger to make his move. And eventually, that moment came.

Ace raised his sword up as he prepared to deliver a massive blow which would hopefully leave Blaze severely weakened. But for the few seconds that Ace held his sword above his head, he front was completely vulnerable to attack. This was the moment Blaze was waiting for.

Blaze quickly took action as he surged his blue aura combined with electricity through his arm and into the plate of metal engulfing it, turning the shield from a means of defence, into a lethal weapon. Blaze drew the shield back and then swiftly swung forwards at Ace's exposed torso. The shield smashed home and from the second of impact, another sharp volt of electrical energy surged through Ace's body momentarily paralysing the bunny and sending him tumbling backwards.

Blaze dropped the plate of metal and launched himself into the air directing his outstretched foot at Ace, who was just getting back up as he flew towards him. Ace saw this out of the corner of his eye and swiftly dodged Blazes attack, but in a brilliant move, as the tiger flew past him, Ace managed to grab his foot. He swung the tiger around by the foot using the tiger's momentum and then he let go, sending Blaze crashing into the building.

Blaze grunted as he got back up. **"Hehe, I gotta hand it to ya bunny. You're pretty good" **the tiger said as he wiped blood from the cut on his face. **"But this is far from over"** he continued. Ace frowned as he realises that this tiger was made of some strong stuff. But then he heard a sound he was very grateful to hear: Jetpacks.

The guys had finally arrived, and not a moment too soon. Ace smiled to himself. Blaze was good, but there was no way that he would be able to fight all of the loonatics at once. **"Actually tiger, it's not dat far from over at all" **Ace grinned as he looked up. Blaze mirrored Ace's actions and he saw that the rest of the Loonatics had arrived. There was no way he was escaping now… But he wasn't going to give up just yet…

"**Just leave me alone!"** cried the tiger in a distressed voice **"It was a stupid loaf of bread!" **Ace looked back at the tiger. **"I told ya, we aint her ta arrest ya!" **he said as he looked pleadingly at Blaze. The tiger responded by growling and bearing his shiny white teeth as the fire burning inside his golden eyes exploded. **"STOP LYING TO ME!" **he shouted in an almighty voice.

As soon as he said this, his blue eyes and aura returned. But this time it was different, it was worse. The ground started shaking, as if it shared Blaze's anger and frustration. The tiger then raised his arms slightly and all of the metal in the square became surrounded by a blue aura and started emitting electricity and was lifted off the ground. Ace's eyes opened widely in shock of what was happening.

Blaze looked up at the other 5 loonatics hovering above the square and then with a loud cry he lifted his arms up in a rapid motion and all of the metal, which worryingly seemed to be being controlled by the tiger, shot up off the ground and hurtled straight towards the loonatics.

"**Whoa!" **cried Lexi as she narrowly dodged some of the oncoming debris, it was everywhere, and it was flying straight at her. The others were having just as bad a time. Slam and Rev both took minor hits, but other than that, they were unscathed. **"THAT, was TOO close" **blubbered a distressed Duck.

Ace realised that Blazes attention was now elsewhere which left him vulnerable _I've got ta stop him. He's losin his self-control _thought Ace, it was now or never. The leader of the loonatics ran at the tiger with all his speed. As he got near, Blaze realised what Ace was doing, but he didn't have enough time to react. Ace launched himself and rugby tackled the Blaze to the ground and pinned him down.

Blaze's control of the metal debris had stopped and Tech was able to use his levitation to bring it under control.

It was over…

The other loonatics landed on the ground and started to walk towards Ace who was still pinning down Blaze.

Duck walked the quickest of all of them, he clearly wasn't happy. **"Hey hotshot, what's the big idea? Trying to shred us to pieces are we?" **he shouted while using lively gestures, demonstrating his displeasure.

Ace turned his attention to Duck **"Go easy on 'im Duck, he's really confused" **stated the bunny as he looked down at the helpless tiger he was pinning. Blaze squirmed and kicked and grunted but it was no use. **"Hey Tech, got anyting to calm dis guy down?"** He inquired looking up at the coyote.

Tech nodded **"I've got just the thing" **as he rummaged around in his pocket. He finally brought out a small little ball. The others looked at him blankly thinking that he was joking, but then, the coyote squeezed the ball and it shapshifted into something that resembled an electric shaver. **"My quantum electro tazer 3000"** stated Tech as he looked proudly at his invention. He quickly tapped the start button and a bright volt of electricity zapped between the 2 prongs at the head of the tazer.

Ace looked at him and nodded **"Do it Tech" **the bunny then looked down at Blaze who stared back with his golden eyes that had abandoned their look of anger and had taken on a look of deep sorrow and loneliness. **"Sorry pal, but dis is for your own good, you'll see…" **

Blaze looked up as the green coyote knelt down with the tazer in hand and pressed it against his neck.

Tech pushed the button.

Blaze jerked as 500 000 volts shot through his body.

And then, all went black…

**Phew! So there we go! One of the most action packed things ever written! :P Haha. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! (Seriously, you guys have no idea how much fun I had writing this chapter!) And don't forget to gimme any feedback you have cos it's YOU guys that will help me become a better writer :)**

**So yeah, in the next chapter, what will Blaze encounter when he wakes up? Will he remember anything? You will have to wait and see ;)**

**Thanks again guys and I hope you enjoyed! **


	5. The Morning After

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 5 – The Morning After

**Hey guys! Chapter 5 is here! Thanks for being so patient, you guys are awesome! So, this chapter is in the aftermath of the epic fight between Blaze and Ace (which resulted in victory for the loonatics... JUST! :D) Blaze in about to regain consciousness, but where will he find himself? Will it be in a cold and dark prison cell? Or somewhere else? Let's find out shall we I hope you my fellow fanfictioners (as Midnight Dragon calls them ;)) enjoy!**

Slowly and painfully, Blaze opened his eyes. The electricity from the tazer had made him very weak. He tried to move his arms but he couldn't. It was like an invisible force field was pinning him down.

Because he couldn't move, Blaze was staring at the ceiling. It was a plain metal grey and the only other thing he could see was a rectangle shaped light which was giving off a dim glow. He was in a prison cell, he was sure of it, or so he thought.

Blaze still felt very tired and as he lay there trying to piece together what had happened the previous night, he drifted off to sleep. However, his sleep was far from peaceful. He had a nightmare, one that he had grown accustomed to…

Blaze watched helplessly as he always did in this nightmare. A female tiger placed a small tiger with adorably massive golden eyes in a cardboard box stuffed with blankets. All around them were shouting and violent explosions. The tiny tiger cutely laughed as he played with a broche that was clipped onto the female tiger's blouse. She smiled as a tear appeared in each of her coral blue eyes and she held the little tigers paw. She leaned in and tenderly kissed his forehead.

As she started to back away, she leaned back in towards his ear and then whispered **"Goodbye my beautiful little Blaze. Your star will shine brighter than anyone one day." **She then backed away, took one last look at the little tiger and closed the lid. The little tigers view started to go black and just before the lid completely closed; he whimpered "**Mama?" **and then all went black…

Blaze suddenly woke up panting. He always woke up at that part. After his breathing had calmed down he sat up. He was drenched in sweat. He started to think about his nightmare, about his mother, and he asked the question that he had asked himself so many times: _why did she leave me? _Maybe he would never know the answer.

Now that he could move, Blaze surveyed his surroundings. It was a big room, and the appliances surprised him greatly: desks, wardrobes, a TV and a king sized bed which he was sitting on.

_What kinda prison cell is this?_ Blaze thought to himself.

Still bewildered, Blaze got off the bed and walked around the room to explore his surroundings, opening wardrobes and cupboards. He also opened a door which shockingly to Blaze, lead to a big en-suite bathroom. If he didn't know any better, Blaze would think he was in a 5 star hotel room not a prison cell.

Blaze stood in the middle of the room trying to make light of his situation. But the longer he dwelled on the matter the more confused he became. But then he noticed something. The door which he presumed lead in and out of the cell had a strange feature on it. A lock… on the INSIDE of the door. Now the tiger was really confused!

Curiously, Blaze wandered towards the door and he finally reached the door. _Well, here goes nothing _Blaze said to himself and reached out towards the lock. He twisted it clockwise and it made a click as it turned the full 90 degrees. Blaze's eyes widened slightly in shock _what the heck is going on, is this a trick? _He asked himself. He then moved his hand up to the handle and twisted it identically as he had twisted the lock, and then pulled.

The door opened…

Blaze released his grip on the door handle letting it open the rest of the way by itself. He took two steps back in bewilderment. Was he hallucinating? Was he in another dream? Or where people just trying to screw with his head again? Blaze didn't know, but he was very curious now.

He slowly made his way to the door and cautiously leaned out. He looked to the left. It was a hallway with a few doors on either side which were identical to the door he had just opened. _More prison cells _was Blaze's immediate thought, but then he turned his head to the right. It was pretty much the same, a hallway with a few doors on either side. But there was something different about the right side. The hallway to the left which he first saw ended in a dead end, but this one seemed to lead out into a room.

Blaze frowned, he was starting to realise that he wasn't in a prison. He cautiously stepped out of the room he had been in and closed the door. He was just about to start walking when he heard chuckles coming from the room up ahead.

Blaze instinctively took his fighting stance, thinking he was about to be attacked. He waited a few moments and then the laughing died away. Blaze started to slowly walk forwards, very wary now. His steps echoed slightly and his shadow followed him along the wall like an enemy stalking him.

Blaze finally came to the end of the hallway. The room that it lead out to was massive. The tiger took a couple of seconds to look around the huge room **"Whoa" **he whispered in amazement. A big kitchen, a hologram table, a ping pong table and so much more. But then he noticed 6 figures sitting on a large couch that surrounded a large table, turned, facing him.

Lexi, Tech, Slam, Duck and Rev all had slightly cautious looks on their faces. But Ace was smirking at the tiger. **"Mornin doc" **he said in a cool voice.

Blaze was tense, but the bunny's smile and kind tone eased him a little **"Uh, Morning…" **the tiger responded warily.

Ace's smile widened slightly **"As ya can tell yer not in prison" **he said sharply cheekily raising an eyebrow.

Blaze frowned slightly **"Yeah I can see that…" **the tiger stated. But then he thought about something, where actually was he? **"Where am i?"** he asked Ace.

"**Loonatics HQ doc, yer new home! Well, Dats if ya want it ta be." **Ace replied.

Blaze wasn't tense anymore. The rabbit didn't mean him any harm. **"Oh…" **quietly said the tiger as he looked down at the floor. **"So you were telling the truth after all…" **Blaze was angry with himself. He realised what a fool he had been. All the pain, all the destruction he had caused… for nothing… **"I… I'm so sorry for everything I did…" **he stuttered **"I… I… I should have trusted you… I'm so stupid!" **Blaze shouted at himself.

While he was saying this, Ace and the others had walked over to him. Ace put his hand on the tigers shoulder seeing that he was in distress. **"Don't worry doc, believe me, I know what ya have bin through. It aint easy." **The bunny said trying to comfort the tiger.

It took a few moments for Blaze to regain his composure. Then he remembered why he was here in the first place. He spoke **"So… You guys want me to join you?" **he asked as he looked at Ace.

Ace nodded **"It would be an honour"**

Blaze thought to himself for a few seconds, and then came to a conclusion **"Well… I've never really seen myself as a hero… But since you guys have saved me from a long stint behind bars, it's the least I can do to thank you" **and as he said the last word, unbelievably a wry smile appeared on his face.

The loonatics all beamed in happiness. Their mission was complete. They now had a powerful ally and hopefully a future friend.

Ace stepped forward **"Welcome to de loonatics, umm… err…" **the bunny stumbled in embarrassment as he realised he didn't know the tiger's name.

"**Blaze" **the tiger finished with a small chuckle **"The name's Blaze. Blaze Tiger."**

Ace smiled _Dats an awesome name _he thought to himself. **"Blaze" **he said with a cool smile **"Welcome to de loonatics, Blaze." **The bunny smiled as he offered his hand to Blaze. The tiger took it and warmly shaked it.

Blaze smiled **"Thanks, thanks to all of you guys, and again, im really sorry for what happened" **he gratefully said as he looked at the others. They all smiled back.

All the loonatics introduced themselves to Blaze and shook his hand.

After he had met his new teammates, Blaze reflected on his situation. He now had a place to live, new friends and something to strive for rather than just trying to survive. He smiled as he realised he could have the family he never had, he had a home…

_Home… _Blaze thought to himself. _Home…_ just thinking the word made him feel all fuzzy inside. Blaze smiled. For the first time in a long time…

He was happy…

**Wohoo! So Blaze is now officially a member of the loonatics. Good stuff! :P Next chapter will be up ASAP! And now that Blaze is a part of the loonatics, how will he settle in to his new life? All will be revealed in the next chapter. **

**P.S.**

**Thanks so much for all your reviews, I love waking up in the morning and finding some lovely juicy reviews! Keep em coming! Also, Loonaticslover13 thank you so much for your advice it really helped, and since it came from you it's even more awesome! Haha**

**Thanks guys and hope you enjoyed! **


	6. Feeling Blue

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 6 – Feeling Blue

**Hey guys! New chapter Wohoo! –Does a little dance-. Haha, anyway welcome to chapter 6 of New Kid On The Block, I really hope you guys are enjoying it so far! :D. Just to let you know, don't be sad when this story eventually ends because I have 2 sequels planned following along the Blaze storyline! And anyway, most of my future fics that aren't about Blaze will still have him in them so fear not! :P So in this chapter we follow Blaze as he settles into life as a loonatic! Enjoy! :D**

For his first day as a loonatic, Blaze just relaxed. He had a tour of the loonatics HQ which he thought was awesome. He particularly liked the training room. _Awesome, a proper place to train_ was the tigers thought when he first saw it. He started to settle into his new room which was right next to Ace's room and across the hall from Tech's. The others had taken him down to the shops to get him some casual clothes and some other things.

When Blaze had asked how he was going to pay for all of the items and clothes he got, Duck's response was **"You're a loonatic now buddy… Perks of the job!" **This made Blaze and the others laugh.

In the evening, Blaze and the others had just sat on the couch and gotten to know each other. Blaze was slightly dubious at revealing his past to his new friends and so he only talked about his life over the last couple of years.

But he had learned a lot about his new friends.

Ace was cool, smart and funny and had been a stunt double before the meteor hit, but that is pretty much all he said about himself. Blaze detected sadness in his voice and wondered if something had happened in his past as it had with Blaze. The tiger also discovered that he and Ace were remarkably similar in many ways.

Lexi was smart, awesome, trendy and stunningly beautiful. The doe had been trying out for the high school cheerleading team before the meteor hit. She came from a massive family and was the second oldest after her big sister Leylani. Lexi also had a great sense of humour and was obviously just as formidable as her male teammates.

Blaze was also able to detect something very interesting with his remarkable perceptive skills: Ace and Lexi had a lot of chemistry, a HELL of a lot. Blaze chuckled as he realised that the two bunnies were madly in love with each other. _Hehe, its gunna be a blast getting those two together _Blaze thought cheekily with a smile.

Tech was extremely intelligent and although he seemed serious, he also liked a good laugh. He came from a long line of inventors, and when he told Blaze that pretty much all the cool gizmos in HQ were designed by him, the tiger's mouth dropped in disbelief. Tech also seemed like a very loyal anthro, someone that could be deeply trusted.

Slam was big, scary, but the most lovable Tasmanian devil this side of Albuquerque. Slam was extremely hard to understand and at first, Blaze was getting nowhere. But he eventually started to be on the same level as Slam. Amazingly, Slam had been a professional wrestler before the meteor and interestingly, Blaze said that he had seen the Tasmanian devil on a poster when he lived on the streets. Slam was also obviously a big fan of his food.

Duck was irritating, funny, but ultimately brave. And this quality was what made him stand out, even if some of the things he said made Blaze want to send him flying into a concrete wall. Duck had been a pool cleaner pre- meteor strike. And although he slated his former job as being **"Despicable"**, Blaze had told him that cleaning a pool, was better than nothing at all. _**(Check out me rhyming accidentally! :P)**_

Rev was jolly, fun loving and talked extremely quickly. Trying to understand Rev was like trying to understand a hamster that had inhaled a lot of helium. But he was fun, and like Blaze, he loved sports. Rev and Tech bickered about almost everything but the two friends got on brilliantly considering that they should be mortal enemies.

Altogether, Blaze really liked his new friends, and looked forward to spending more time with them.

The loonatics all went to their rooms pretty late. They were just having so much fun getting to know each other that they completely forgot the time. Before they all went to their separate rooms, Blaze thanked them again for their kindness.

Blaze went to bed but he didn't fall asleep. The tiger had never had a decent night's sleep since he was 7, but he had gotten used to it. Blaze's mind was racing as he thought about his new friends, and his new home. Tech had asked Blaze if he could do some tests on him.

Blaze had accepted, but when he asked WHY Tech wanted to run tests on him, the coyote simply winked and mysteriously answered **"You'll find out soon enough."**

After mulling it over for a while, he couldn't decide what Tech meant. He abandoned trying to figure it out. He then starting thinking about what he would be doing at this very moment if he hadn't encountered the Loonatics, if he was still a nobody…

Unable to close his eyes, Blaze got out of his bed and decided to go to the living room. He walked towards one of the massive windows and looked down at the bulging city of Acmetropolis. The view was amazing from up here, the different coloured lights, the view of the ocean, the moon high above brightly illuminating the entire city in a sea of ghostly white light. Blaze decided that he would never get bored of looking out of this window.

Blaze stood there for a while, just gazing out. After some time, his sensitive ears picked up a door opening. _One of the guys must be in the mood for a midnight snack_ Blaze said to himself. He chuckled as he figured that it would probably be Slam.

However, he turned around to see Ace, dressed in his PJ's, walking out towards the kitchen. It seemed that he hadn't seen Blaze. As the bunny was set to work presumably making a snack or something, Blaze came up behind Ace, who's back was turned **"Couldn't sleep?"** he asked curiously.

Ace slightly jumped in surprise, but then he turned round to see Blaze standing there with a slight smile embracing his face.

Ace smirked at the tiger's question **"Ne, I always get up in de middle of de night for a carrot juice" **he said as he turned back to fiddling appliances. **"What about you?" **the bunny asked as he turned back slightly to face Blaze **"Having trouble noddin off in de new bed?" **he continued with a smirk.

Blaze bowed his head slightly and turned around and walked towards the couch **"Na, I've never been one for sleep."** The tiger said casually **"When you live on the streets of Acmetropolis, the noise makes it kinda hard to sleep." **Blaze continued as he shrugged his shoulders.

Ace wandered over with his carrot juice and sat across from Blaze and sighed **"Yeah, it aint dat fun livin on de streets is it. Not fun at all" **

Blaze looked up in curiosity **"How do you know that?" **he asked the bunny.

Ace looked back up to face Blaze **"Cos I lived on de streets for two years…"** the bunny confessed sadly. The memory haunted him like a ghost.

Blaze's eyes widened in shock **"What? How long ago was that?" **he asked, as he leaned forward, listening intently.

Ace sighed again as he sipped his carrot juice. **"It was when I was ten; just after I'd lost my parents" **he started **"I had nowhere to go so I just lived on de streets. It was horrible… At first I didn't have a clue what I was doin. But eventually I found my feet" **the bunny continued **"But den I was taken in by an orphanage, and I stayed dere until I was 18 when I got de job as a stunt double, den I moved out." **Ace finally concluded.

Blaze had listened intently and was filled with sympathy for the bunny since he knew exactly what he had been through. Then he thought about what Ace said _just after I lost my parents_ Blaze thought, repeating to himself what the bunny had told him.

He knew he may be hitting a raw nerve, but he decided to ask Ace about it.** "Hey Ace, what happened to your parents?" **he asked cautiously trying not to upset the bunny.

Ace sadly looked down at the floor and simply answered **"House fire… Killed both of dem…"** Ace's eyes started to water. He hadn't thought about his parents in a while.

Blaze drooped his head, mimicking Ace's sadness. **"I… I'm so sorry…" **Blaze uttered, trying to comfort the stricken bunny.

Ace looked back up into Blaze's fiery golden eyes and nodded. **"Danks Blaze…" **he said quietly.

Blaze nodded back, and they remained quiet for a while. Speaking of Ace's parents made Blaze think of his own parents: his father, whom he never knew, and his mother who seemingly abandoned him. Blaze was filled with sadness as the nightmare engulfed his thinking once more.

Ace had shook off his sadness and decided to ask Blaze more about his past. **"What bout you den? How did you get on de street?" **Ace asked the tiger, a smile returning to his face.

Blaze then snapped out of his blank state and smiled. **"Oh… Erm sorry Ace I was spaced out. What did you say again?"**

Ace smiled, and then repeated his question with a small chuckle and the tiger nodded. Blaze then told Ace all about his childhood on the streets and about the orphanage he had been taken in by. He went on for a while about his life after the orphanage and how he had survived all on his own for 15 years. Ace was astounded at the tiger's story.

Blaze chuckled as he came to the end of his story **"… and then I met you guys!" **The tiger said happily **"I wish we had gotten off to a better start though!" **he said with a laugh.

Ace chuckled at the tiger's last remark. **"Hehe, yeah. I gotta admit dat getting my furry cotton handed ta me wasn't dat fun"** remarked Ace with a smile.

Blaze grinned, and both of the loonatics remained silent for a few moments before Blaze decided to ask Ace about his love life. _Hehe, time to see what's what_ the tiger thought cheekily. **"Soooo, as leader of the loonatics, surely you've got a girlfriend right Ace?" **Blaze asked with an innocent smile on his face.

Ace was slightly taken aback by Blaze's direct question. He started to go hot under the collar **"Umm…"** the bunny started nervously, trying to get the words out "**Err… ne… I don't"**

"**Oh okay" **Blaze smiled as he prepared to rattle his new leader with another question. **"You do like someone though don't you?"** the mischievous tiger asked, trying hard not to grin like a little toddler who has just been offered some candy.

Ace's cheeks started to go red. He was falling apart. **"Erm… no… well err… actually… yeah" **the bunny finally replied as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Blaze smile broadened at Ace's response. He was ready to go in for the kill. **"Cool!" **he purposefully waited for a few seconds to add to the tension and then **"Just outta curiosity Ace, would that person be a very beautiful doe with emerald eyes, a matching hair ribbon, who likes wearing pink?" **Blaze chuckled.

Ace looked up at Blaze in surprise and shock, his face flooded red. **"How de heck do ya know I like her?" **the bunny asked in a quiet but manic tone.

Blaze chuckled as he stretched and yawned **"I seem to have a knack for being able to read people like a book, but to be honest buddy, it don't take a genius to see that you are lovesick for that girl" **He smiled as he winked at his leader who was still in disbelief.

Ace sat there with a look of horror on his face until he eventually calmed down. **"D'ya tink she knows?"** he asked sounding desperate.

Blaze shook his head. Everyone realised they liked each other apart from themselves! **"Haha, na don't worry bud, I think you're good… for now" **Blaze added with an evil grin.

Ace leaned back, slightly relieved as he finished off his carrot juice. The two anthros sat in silence for a while, until Ace decided to turn the tables **"Wat about you hotshot? Ya got a goil?" **

Blaze seemed slightly surprised by his leader's question. He looked out the window and sighed. "**I did…" **he finally replied. **"When I was in the orphanage I only had one friend. She was the most amazing person I had ever met" **Blaze explained with a mixed tone of joy and sadness. **"For those 2 years that I was in that orphanage, I spent every second of every day with her…"**

Ace sat back, an interested expression on his face. He thought for a moment about what Blaze had said, and then decided he wanted to know more **"Mind tellin me what happened doc?" **he asked in a calm voice.

Blaze nodded and continued **"After I left the orphanage, I never thought that I would see her again. I hoped and dreamed that one day we would cross paths. And the day I turned 15, my dream came true." **Blaze said with deep happiness. Ace responded with a smile. The tiger continued with his tale **"I ran into her in the park where we always used to hang out. She had been looking for me. I didn't recognise her at first because she had changed so much. She was so beautiful." **Blaze closed his eyes as he pictured her **"We spent the whole day together, as if we had never been apart. It was one of the best days of my life. At the end of it as the sun went down, she had to go back to the orphanage. I understood, but that didn't help the fact that u wouldn't see her again for a long time since she told me she had found her parents and was going to live with them." **Blaze's eyes started to water slightly at the memory. **"Before she left, she promised me that we would meet me again. And she gave me this…" **Blaze showed Ace his right paw. On the index finger, was a beautiful solid gold ring.

As Ace looked closer, he noticed that there was a name on the ring engraved in elegant writing. **"Kyra…" **whispered Ace out loud as he read the name on the ring.

Blaze nodded **"That's her name…" **the tiger said in sadness. **"She gave me that ring so that I would always remember her. And there hasn't been a day that's gone by since then that I haven't thought about her." **He continued as a tear formed in his eyes. **"It took me only one day to fall in love with her, and I will love her until the day I die…" **Blaze finally concluded as the tear in his eye dropped into his lap.

Ace had shuffled around and was now next to Blaze with his hand on his shoulder **"Don't worry doc, im sure ya will see her again" **he assured the tiger with a smile.

Blaze wiped his eye and nodded in thanks to the comforting words of his leader.

"**Anyway I better get back off to bed. Tanks for de talk Blaze" **Ace said as he got up.

Blaze nodded **"Yeah sure no problem, thanks to you too" **the tiger said in a mellow tone.

"**No worries. See ya in de morning" **and with that, Ace disappeared down the hallway back towards his room.

Blaze sat there thinking about everything that they had talked about, until eventually; the tiger got up and went back to his bed aswell. The flow of emotions had left Blaze shattered and he quickly fell asleep.

There would be no more disturbances tonight. Blaze slept peacefully all the way through until morning.

**Phew! What a chapter aye? Nice little heart to heart between Blaze and his new leader. For those of you that are worried that there won't be any more action in this story, fear not! Lots of juicy fight scenes to come! :P So in the next chapter, Blaze has his first breakfast with the loonatics and continues to settle in to his new life. Also, why does Tech want to run tests on Blaze? Find out in the next chapter! :D**

**P.S. As usual thanks for your reviews guys, they mean a lot. BTW, I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED MY EXAMS! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! Haha :P anyway that is good news not only for the obvious reasons, but also because it means I will have more time to write stories so watch this space! :D**

**Thanks guys and I hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Blueing Things Up

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 7 – Blue-ing Things Up

**Hey guys! Was really excited about writing this chapter so I tried to get it up ASAP! :D btw, just in quick response to Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro's review. Thank you very much for reviewing but if you look carefully in chapter 4, Ace does use his optic laser blasts once. The reason I made it so that he didn't use them more often in the fight was because Ace had his loonatics suit on (which greatly decreases physical damage) however Blaze didn't, which meant that if he used his laser vision he could have really hurt Blaze. But don't worry, later on Ace and the others will all be using their powers to fight evil. But cheers for reviewing :D**

**Right so in this chapter, we find out why Tech wants to run tests on new recruit Blaze. What's gunna happen? Time to find out :)**

Sun light from the massive windows hit Blaze as he emerged from the hallway into the main room. The tiger stopped and turned to face the windows and let the light and heat engulf him. He closed his eyes and sighed with a content smile. He could never remember having such a good night's sleep.

He stayed like that for a few moments as he soaked up the sun, and then finally turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"**Morning" **said Tech and Rev simultaneously as Blaze sat down at the large table.

Blaze smiled at the Coyote and the Roadrunner **"Hey guys, sleep well?" **the tiger asked.

Rev nodded enthusiastically and smiled while Tech simply said **"Always."**

"**How-about-you-did-you-sleep-ok-considering-that-you-were-in-a-new-bed-and-all?" **Rev asked in his speedy voice.

Blaze leaned back in his chair. **"I've never been a great sleeper, but I managed got off eventually." **He assured coolly.

"**Good" **Tech responded. They all sat there for a few seconds and then Tech turned to Rev **"Didn't you put some nuts in the microwave Rev?" **the coyote said with a smirk.

The second after Tech's question, Rev's eyes bulged out of their sockets and he gasped **"Aww-man-i-forgot!" **With this the roadrunner jolted out of his seat and dashed for the microwave.

Tech then leaned back in his seat and turned to face Blaze. He took note of the tigers face and could tell that he was deep in thought. **"I bet you're wondering why I asked if I could run some tests on you yesterday aren't ya Blaze" **he stated coolly.

Blaze snapped back to the present. He smiled and nodded. **"Yeah, I am actually" **he responded, realising that the coyote had seen what he had been thinking. **"Mind telling me why?"**

Tech took a gulp of his Coffee and gasped in satisfaction as he swallowed. **"I need to know exactly WHAT your powers are." **the coyote responded with a wry smile.

Blaze smiled back. He figured this would be the case. He wanted to know exactly why Tech needed this knowledge but he then decided against it. He wanted to be surprised. **"I won't ask why" **he said with a chuckle.

Tech grinned at the tiger's comment. **"Don't worry, you'll find out why soon enough buddy." **

Rev then came back holding a plate of seeds. **"Phew-just-got-there-in-time. Any-longer-and-these-babies-would-have-been-frazzled!" t**he roadrunner said in relief.

Blaze and Tech laughed as Rev sat down and started pecking at his seeds.

Over the next hour, the other loonatics emerged and they all sat down together and enjoyed a fried breakfast cooked by Tech. It was pretty darn good, and to Blaze it was like a bite of heaven. They all sat there for ages, talking and laughing, like one big family.

Blaze was starting to like his new friends more and more. He realised that this really was the start of a new chapter in the book of his life. So far, the story had been sad, full of loss, pain, lies and deceit. But Blaze was sure that the plot was now taking a turn for the better. The sun was starting to shine brightly on the young tiger. Blaze on the road to becoming everything that he could, and should be.

Eventually however, it was time. Blaze was particularly eager for these tests because all the time that he had had his powers; he had never known what they actually were. Everyone followed Tech as he led the way.

Blaze thought that he was going to be sitting in a testing chamber in Tech's lab or something, but when they walked past the coyote's lab, Blaze was puzzled. **"Where we goin Tech?" **he asked.

Tech briefly looked back at the tiger **"Training room" **he answered in short.

Now Blaze was really confused. How was Tech going to find out what his powers are in the training room? He decided to wait and find out.

Eventually they arrived at the humongous training room where the guardians of the universe enhanced their skills. While Blaze and Tech walked into the room, the others walked into the electronics room on the other side which controlled the simulations.

The training room was amazing. Every weapon under the sun lined the walls, ready to be used in training. Along one wall stood a refrigerator which contained cool high energy drinks and snack foods for a mid-training break. And next to it was a shelf which was stacked with cream white towels. The room was amazing. It had taken Tech a good while to design it. With the ability to create real life battle simulations, and change the level of gravity to make the training environment more challenging, it was an absolute paradise for martial artists like Blaze, Ace and Lexi. The tiger knew that he would be spending many hours in here.

Blaze and Tech stopped as they entered the gigantic room. **"So, how exactly are you gunna do tests on me in here?"** Blaze asked as he gestured around the room.

Tech held out his hand and in it, he held 4 slightly odd looking objects in. **"Put two of these pads on both your forearms and the other two on your calves. Each one contains a microchip which will detect and absorb some of the energy flowing through your body when you power up and will absorb it. The chip will then analyse the energy and work out what elements are contained within it and send the data to the computer in the electronics room." **He said as he pointed across the training room to the small room which was on the other side of a large pane of glass where the others were standing and waiting.** "That way we will be able to figure out what your powers are." **The coyote explained with a small smile as he handed the pads to Blaze.

Blaze was slightly puzzled as he didn't completely take in all that Tech said. But he got the general idea. **"Awesome." **The tiger said in short as he took the pads from his coyote teammate. **"But I still don't see why we had to come in here to do this. Couldn't we have just done it in your lab?" **He asked as he raised his arms.

"**We could do, but I want to create a battle simulation for you so that you can use your powers as if you were using them on a mission so that I can get familiar with your battle style and how you use your different power techniques." **Tech replied as he crossed his arms.

Blaze understood. _But why does he need to know all that stuff? _The tiger asked himself thoughtfully. **"Okay cool, but how come you need to know my battle technique and all that?" **he asked Tech in bewilderment.

The coyote slyly grinned in response. **"Let's just say I need to know them in order to make your… Gift…" **he replied in a mysterious tone as his deep green eyes shifted and he gazed around the room.

"**Okay got it" **Blaze said coolly with a wink. **"So what do ya need me to do?"**

"**Just mix it up a bit. Use different techniques and moves. That way the microchip can get more data." **Tech responded.

Blaze nodded. He knew what he had to do. Tech left the room and the door whooshed as it closed behind him. Blaze turned and walked towards the middle of the room. He stopped and stood there waiting, his mind was racing like a bolt of lightning as he debated what he was going to do. Tech had said to mix it up a bit, and that was exactly what the tiger planned to deliver. Blaze didn't know what he would be facing, but he was ready…

Blaze then did as Tech had instructed and stuck two of the pads on his forearms and the other two on his muscly calves. Blaze then closed his eyes as he got into the zone and relaxed his thinking. He also relaxed the tension in his body by loosening his shoulders and stretching.

"**Ready Blaze?" **Blaze opened his eyes suddenly in response to the words. He looked towards the large window. Tech had joined the others in the electronics room and was standing in front of the control console.

Blaze nodded in eager anticipation. **"Ready…" **he said calmly.

Tech then pressed several buttons to adjust the settings of the simulation. And then, when he was content, he pressed the big red button to start.

There was a sudden beep, and then all was havoc….

All around him, a wave of robots ran at Blaze from all angles. But rather than react quickly, Blaze closed his eyes and remained in his standard stance.

The others looked on in shock as the tiger stood calmly in the middle of the room with tons of simulated robots running at him. But then, Blaze's aura started to glow and surrounded his whole body. It started off a faint blue glow, hardly visible, but it got darker and darker. Electricity started crackling around Blaze as the dark blue aura deepened and expanded.

The tiger spread his legs slightly and he planted his feet firmly on the ground. Blaze then lowered his body as he clenched his fists. He opened his blue eyes and gritted his teeth. The energy that Blaze was massing was incredible. Tech gasped as he looked at the computer screen which was receiving massive energy readings from the microchips.

The robots moved closer and closer until they were almost upon Blaze. But then, in a supernova of blue, crackling lightning, Blaze released his energy with a loud shout. The wave of energy sent all of the robots absolutely flying backwards and they all disappeared because they had been effectively disabled.

The loonatics all exchanged shocked looks at the massive burst of electrical energy. **"Man, dis guy is ridiculous" **Ace said with a look of utter disbelief. The other loonatics all nodded in agreement. Rev was speechless for once. Even Tech was dumbfounded.

Back in the training room, Blaze took his fighting stance with his blue aura still surrounding him. Another wave of simulation bots appeared out of nowhere and charged him. Blaze smiled as he launched himself forwards and collided straight into the oncoming bot and delivered a series of force palms, each crackling with electricity as the impact was delivered. The bot eventually flew backwards as Blaze drew back his right arm and powerfully smashed his fist into the bot's metal torso.

Blaze then back flipped acrobatically over a group of bots that were trying to rush him from behind and as he landed, he drew back both his arms and collected energy into his palms. One of his electro-gyro balls was quickly conjured and the tiger thrust his arms forward sending the gyro ball spinning towards the robots at a mind boggling speed. It exploded as it made contact with the nearest bots head. The surrounding robots were all obliterated in a dark blue cloud of energy.

Blaze effortlessly destroyed 3 more bots with his martial art skills. He then conjured up another gyro ball and destroyed another wave which was closing in on him from behind. After he took out a few more there were only about 6 left. One tried foolishly charging the tiger, but was easily dispatched by a round-the-house smash kick straight to the temple sending the broken bot hurtling backwards; it disappeared as it made contact with the wall of the training room.

The remaining bots surrounded Blaze leaving him with no way out. They all simultaneously moved towards the tiger, slowly enclosing him. But Blaze simply smiled. He slowly raised his hands and closed his eyes as energy flowed through his whole body. All 6 of the bots stopped dead and became like statues as they all became engulfed in a blue aura, identical to Blaze's. Blaze then thrust his right hand to the left and his left hand in the opposite direction and all at once, the bots came flying towards him. The tiger crouched slightly and then launched himself vertically into the air. Below him, the bots all smashed into each other and there was a loud clanging sound as metal met metal in a monsoon of sparks. Metal limbs flew everywhere as the bots crumpled against each other and then they completely disappeared.

Blaze gracefully summersaulted in mid-air and then landed effortlessly back on the training room floor. He looked around to see the training room back to normal, with no hordes of robots attacking him. The simulation was over.

The tiger sighed deeply. He had hardly broken a sweat. _Good workout_ Blaze said to himself. After gathering his thoughts he turned around to face the window where he thought he would see his teammates. But they weren't there. **"What the heck?"** Blaze said to himself out loud.

But as soon as the tiger had finished speaking, the door on the other side of the training room whooshed open. All 6 of his teammates stepped into the room, one by one and started making their way towards Blaze.

They all had giant grins on their faces.

**Woo! Told ya there would be some more action! So after his dominant performance in the simulation, how will Blaze's teammates react? And also, what is Tech's "present" that he intends to give Blaze? Anybody care to hazard a guess? :D**

**Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks so much for all your support and advice in your reviews. I would have never thought that after only 6 chapters of my first fic I would have got 14 reviews! So thank you guys so much. Shout out to Midnight Dragon and the loonatics queen herself: Loonaticslover13 for their continued feedback, you guys are awesome! ;)**

**Anyway, thanks again guys, and sorry that it took a little while to get this one up. Hope you enjoyed and please gimme your feedback! :)**


	8. It's Official

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 8 – It's Official

**Hey guys! Sorry that I have been neglecting you the last few days. It's been a bit hectic. Anyways hope you are all enjoying this story so far. So in this chapter, we find out exactly WHAT Blaze's powers are, and also what is Tech's present? Time to find out! Btw, I will be getting a little technical when describing Blaze's powers, but I hope you guys will understand it all ok. Enjoy! :) **

"**That was so awesome Blaze!" **exclaimed Lexi excitedly as she ran up to him. Blaze blushed in response. He wasn't really used to getting praise, especially from a girl! It felt good. **"Thanks Lexi" **the tiger responded timidly with a smile.

All the loonatics were thoroughly impressed. **"Man-that-was-so-unbelievably-amazingly-super-duperly-cool!" **shouted Rev as he jumped up and down on the spot.

Duck shrugged his shoulders **"You will never reach my super standards, but not bad." **The mallard commented in a cocky tone.

Slam ran up and gave Blaze a bone-crushing hug, depriving the tiger of air. He started to go purple. **"Thanks Slam but can ya gimme some air please?" **he wheezed in a barely audible voice.

The Tasmanian realised that he was crushing his teammate and released his iron grip on Blaze. The tiger dropped to the ground and took massive breaths. He sighed in relief as oxygen returned to his lungs. **"Aaah… Thanks buddy" **he said with a wink.

"**Hssud sojrb" **(Haha, sorry!) Slam giggled in embarrassment.

Blaze got back to his feet to see Ace standing in front of him with a wry smile. **"Nice one doc" **the bunny said coolly as he held out his fist.

Blaze grinned and fist-fived his leader **"Cheers Ace" **the tiger answered with a grateful nod.

"**Where did ya learn ta fight like dat?" **Ace asked with wonder.

Blaze sadly thought to himself for a second as he recalled painful memories. **"It's a long story, I'll tell you some other time." **He answered.

They all stood around him complimenting him on his skills and moves. Blaze shyly said thank you to each comment. He had never been treated like this. Nobody had ever appreciated his special talents in his past life. His heart raced with joy.

After all the excitement had died down, Tech invited Blaze and the others back to the electronics room. Blaze, Ace, Lexi, Duck, Slam and Rev all sat on the large couch which ran along the back wall. All of them, particularly Blaze, watched Tech intently as he typed away at the computer. He finally stopped typing, and they were all sure that they heard the coyote utter a quiet: Wow…

Tech finally turned around and focussed his attention on Blaze, who stared back with his golden eyes.

For the next half an hour, Tech ran through all that the data from the microchips had shown him. While Duck had silently fallen asleep, the others had listened intently. Tech was being very scientific with his words and phrases, and on more than one occasion, Ace had to ask the coyote to speak in plain English. Despite Tech making no sense to the others for most of the time, Blaze had got the gist of it. He now knew… He finally knew what his powers where.

_Three hours later…_

After Tech had finished his explaining, he had gone straight to his lab, Blaze had no idea why. While the others had gone to get something to eat, Blaze had taken a shower, and was now lying on his bed thinking about all that Tech had said.

Tech had explained to Blaze and the others that the energy that had been absorbed and analysed from his body had contained an extremely powerful compound called electromagnetism. This combination meant that not only could Blaze create, store and use this electromagnetic energy in different ways and techniques, but he could control metal, he could manipulate and absorb normal electricity, and he could create seismic waves with his magnetic energy to make earthquakes.

As a whole, Blaze had some very immense powers. But Tech had warned him that Blaze still had to learn to control all these powers properly. And also, he had to learn to control his emotions. Blaze realised why Tech had said this. At the end of his fight with Ace, Blaze had lost control in a burst of anger and frustration. And as his anger raged, so did his powers. It dawned on the tiger that he could have done some serious harm. He had to learn to stay in the driving seat and to keep his feelings in check, because if he didn't, the results could be disastrous…

This warning that Tech had given struck home with Blaze big time. He realised that with all his powers, he could be a great addition to the loonatics, and could be a driving force in keeping the peace in the universe. But he could also be a big danger to it if he lost control of them, aswell as his emotions.

_I will control myself. _Blaze thought to himself assuredly. _I'm not a monster. I'm not just fighting for myself anymore. I'm fighting for innocent people, for justice, and for my friends. I can't let my anger get the better of me. I will control myself…_

Blaze kept repeating the last line over and over again, trying to pummel every last ounce of doubt out of his conscience.

Hours passed as Blaze just lay there thinking about the past, the present, and the future. Eventually he heard a knock on his door. Blaze snapped back into the present as the situation registered. **"Yeah?"** Blaze enquired as he sat up.

A familiar voice came from the other side of the door. **"Yo Blaze. Everyting okay?" **Ace asked in his Brooklyn accent.

Blaze smirked. **"Yeah im good" **he replied. **"Hang on a sec Ace, I'll be right there." **He continued as he shuffled to the edge of his king-sized bed and stood up. He lazily walked towards the metal door, slid open the bolt and pulled the handle.

Ace coolly smiled as the door swung open. **"What's up doc." **He said with a grin.

Blaze returned a smile. **"Nothing much. Just been thinking a lot." **He admitted with a sigh.

Ace raised an eyebrow at Blaze's response. **"What about?" **he asked trying not to sound nosey.

Blaze looked down at the floor as he leaned against the door frame. **"Everything really. My past, what's happened the last few days, and also the future."** He explained. **"I'm just worried is all."**

Ace frowned **"What's bothering ya doc?" **he asked with concern.

Blaze looked back up and backed into his room and started pacing up and down, up and down like a caged wild animal. **"My anger…"** he started **"My anger worries me… In the past, I've had big issues with my anger, and that's putting it lightly." **The tiger continued as he continued to pace. **"You saw so yourself Ace. Sometimes I just blackout, and completely lose control of myself, and that's exactly what happened down at that square." **Blaze admitted as he stopped pacing and looked back down at the floor in sadness.

Ace had made his way into Blaze's room and stood with a comforting hand on the tiger's shoulder. **"Hope ya don't mind me asking Blaze, but how has all dis anger bin built up inside ya?" **The bunny asked. Ace realised that the only way that he could help his teammate was by getting him to open up.

Blaze looked back up at his leader for a brief second. He then turned around and moved towards the foot of his bed where he sat down. **"It's a lot of things… Growing up on the streets and having to live life the hard way gave me an attitude to start with. You don't have anyone to give you guidance, love and discipline. You always ask yourself "Why me? What have I done to deserve this?" And never knowing why you are in the situation you are is frustrating." **The tiger began. He took a brief pause as key events of his life flashed before his eyes. Then he continued. **"But the worst thing was that I was always being bullied. The kids always picked on me, treated me like dirt and made fun of me. I was always left out of things. At first I was scared, but as it got worse, my fear turned into anger. As this rage built up inside of me, at times I just wanted to lash out. But I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I kept it all bundled up. As the years went on, I distanced myself from everyone. But my anger was always there, like a raging fire that never burnt out." **Blaze paused as his train of thought wondered off again.

Ace thoughtfully frowned and raised his hand and rested his chin on his bony knuckles. **"Ahhh… So dat's why yer so good at martial arts. You taught yourself everyting so dat ya could defend yourself against bullies." **the leader of the loonatics stated.

Blaze nodded with a serious look. He then continued with his story with a slightly aggressive tone. **"Even though I distanced myself, they kept going. They wouldn't stop. When asking them didn't work, my only choice was to threaten them. And at first it worked, but they started ganging up on me. And then…" **Blaze stopped dead in his tracks as his angry voice faded and his facial expression saddened. **"But then the meteor strike happened and I got my powers…" **Blaze stopped and got up off of his bed and started pacing again. **"The next time that they ganged up on me, I was so angry I couldn't hold it in anymore. I just let it all out, without even being able to control it… I used my powers for the first time that day… The result was all 7 guys ending up in hospital with serious injuries. The only way I got away with it is that the guys I beat up didn't remember anything. From that day on, I have done my best to keep my emotions from getting taking control of me. But, as you saw the other day, sometimes it just gets too much…"**

With that he stopped. He stopped talking and he stopped pacing. The tiger remained in a spaced out mind-set for a few moments and then turned to face Ace. A tear had run down his black and orange coloured cheeks. **"That's why im worried Ace, because I could really hurt someone unintentionally… I could hurt a lot of people… It could be innocent people, or even you guys… And you're the best friends I've had in a long time… I don't want to endanger anybody's safety. Especially the loonatics…"**

Ace smiled sympathetically as he walked towards Blaze and once again put his hand on the troubled tiger's shoulder. **"Don't worry Blaze. Before ya were alone. But ya got us now. We're all in dis together okay, so trust me buddy, ya will beat dis." **He assured as his smile broadened.

Blaze smiled gratefully back and mirrored his leader's actions as he put his hand on Ace's shoulder. **"Cheers Ace. You don't know how much that means to me." **He replied genuinely.

The bunny smirked **"No worries." **He started. **"Hey ya must be hungry. Slam is cookin his famous pasta. Trust me on dis one, it's the best pasta in Acmetropolis. C'mon." **he suggested as he waved at the door.

"**Aye aye skipper" **came Blaze's quick response as he chuckled.

Ace smiled at the tiger's comment as they moved towards the door and stepped into the hallway.

As the two anthros made their way down the corridor, Blaze realised that Ace was one of the best people he had ever met. And he had only known him for 2 days! He was kind, considerate and understanding. The qualities of not only a great person, but of course, a great leader.

Blaze concluded his thoughts as they finally came to the end of the hallway and entered the main room.

After taking two steps, Blaze's nostrils were bombarded by possibly the most amazing smell he could ever recall. **"Oh… My… God…" **he drearily said in a trance.

Ace chuckled at his teammate's response. **"I know… And I know dis probably sounds impossible, but it tastes even better dan it smells." **He said with a smile as he closed his sapphire eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose, sucking up the heavenly smell. **"Let's get some grub!"**

Ace wasn't kidding. Blaze had never tasted anything so amazing. He gobbled down every last morsel like a ravenous wolf and he finished miles ahead of everyone else.

Tech had been in his lab the whole time but he finally came out as he arrived at the table after getting his portion of pasta.

"**Hey Tech." **they all said as he took his traditional place at the table with his plate of food in hand.

"**It's been a few years hasn't it Tech, how you been pal?" **Duck asked sarcastically which caused the others to laugh, but caused Tech to glare at the mallard with a look that could kill.

"**Actually DUCK, I've been working on something very important." **He replied in an irritated voice as he had a mouthful of his pasta. "**Mmm, great pasta by the way Slam" **the coyote said with a mouthful of food.

The loonatics all gave looks of wonderment, and for a while they sat there staring at Tech hoping that he would enlighten them.

Rev finally broke the ice. **"Okay-well-since-nobody-else-is-gunna-say-anyhting-I'll-say-something-since-I-usually-say-everything, WHAT-have-you-been-working-on-Tech?" **he rapidly questioned.

The coyote smiled **"Oh don't worry, you'll find out soon enough" **the coyote replied as he had another mouthful of pasta. **"Oh by the way Blaze, there's a little something in your room for you" **he added with a sly smile.

Blaze responded with a surprised look. **"How did you get in my room?"** he questioned.

"**Oh yeah, well I was gunna bring your gift in here but as I came out of the lab I noticed your door was open so I put it on your bed. Hope you don't mind." **Tech replied swiftly.

"**Oh yeah no problem. Umm, may I be excused guys?"** Blaze openly asked. He was very curious about his "gift" and wanted to find out what it was.

"**Sure ting doc" **Ace replied with a smile, which was coupled with smiles of confirmation from the others.

"**Cheers" **the tiger said with a wink. He got up out of his seat and made his way towards his room…

As he opened his door, he immediately saw something spread out on his bed. He smiled as he realised what it was and closed the door behind him…

Back in the main room, the others were all waiting, waiting to see what Blaze's gift was. It was like waiting for rain in the middle of the dessert: Eternal. But finally, the echo of footsteps came down the hallway…

The shadow on the wall got bigger and bigger, until finally, Blaze emerged…

The others all gasped as they saw the brand new Blaze.

He was wearing a black suit, with dark blue lining, dark blue boots, dark blue gloves, a blue and black mask identical to the other loonatics which changed the colour of his face, a blue belt going around his muscular waist, the dark blue built in communicator on his right forearm, and of course, on the middle of his chest, a dark blue triangle.

It was his loonatics uniform…

The other all smiled, as they looked at their majestic looking new teammate. Ace uttered a brief statement with a wide smile **"It's official Blaze, You're a Loonatic…"**

**Phew! So there we go! As the title of the chapter suggests, its official! Blaze is now the seventh member of the loonatics! Yay! So in the next chapter, we will get the reactions from Blaze's teammates. Plus, there will be yet ANOTHER kick ass fight so don't miss it! :)**

**As usual, thank you guys so much for your support, im glad that you are enjoying the story. Loonaticslover13 thank you so much for allowing me to use 2 of your characters (Ace's parents), im deeply grateful. Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter, next one will be up soon and don't forget to gimme your lovely feedback! ;) Cheers guys**

**P.S. Midnight Dragon, I hope you enjoyed your holiday ;)**


	9. The Eye Of The Tiger

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 9 – The Eye of the Tiger

**Hey Guys! Chapter 9 is here! As usual thanks to my regulars (you know who you are. ;)) for your continued support, you are the ones that spur me on to continue writing, and thank you so much Luna246 for your review. Always nice to get a new reviewer. :) Also well done to Loonaticslover13 for correctly guessing what Tech's present was, and to any of you guys that guessed correctly aswell.**

**Okay so I know I said there would be a big action scene in this chapter but it ended up being longer than I expected so I have split this chapter in two and all the action will be in the next chapter. Sorry! But I will make sure that the next chapter is up sooner than this one was! Enjoy!**

Blaze opened his bathroom door and wandered out in nothing but a towel. Blaze truly was magnificent physically wise, his perfectly shaped 8 pack, bulging pecks and muscular arms and calves made him look like a demigod!

Steam floated off of his fur as he ran his paw through his short black hair and water dripped off of him onto the carpet.. He smiled as he stopped at the side of his king sized bed and stared down adoringly at the Cobalt blue lined- jet black suit spread out on his bed.

Blaze absolutely loved his uniform. It was comfortable, easy to put on, and looked great on him. And he loved that it was lined in his favourite colour. Dark Cobalt blue defined Blaze's personality: Slightly dark and mysterious at first, but once you look at it long enough, you realise what a beautiful colour it is.

Blaze's eyes got lost in the deep blue colour of the triangle on the chest of his suit as he recalled the events of the last four days.

After getting his suit he had just relaxed for the evening with the others, getting to know them better and building a stronger bond with them. After only a few days with the loonatics, Blaze trusted them all completely (well… maybe not Duck, for obvious reasons!).

During that night, Blaze had another nightmare about his past, the same one every time. And it still left him just as shaken up as when he had first had it. When his efforts to try to drift back off to sleep failed, he got up and went to the main room to get a drink where he found Tech doing the same thing. Just as Blaze and Ace had had only a couple of nights before hand, the tiger and coyote talked into the night. Tech explained the benefits of Blaze's new uniform such as how it decreased the effects of physical attacks, and also how it increased his durability when using his powers.

But the two loonatics had mainly talked about personal matters such as their pasts.

Tech was a cool guy. Like Blaze, he had been bullied when he was younger, because he was extremely intelligent. Kids made fun of him and called him a nerd just because he liked science. But there was a whole other side to the coyote. He was funny, kind-hearted, liked a laugh, and was willing to help Blaze with his anxieties about his anger.

Blaze felt comfortable telling Tech lots of things that he wouldn't have dreamed of telling anyone but himself before he became a loonatic. Blaze could tell that he had found a good friend in the genius that sat beside him.

The day after that, Blaze had continued to remodel his room by painting his room. He had painted two of the walls cobalt blue and the other two bright orange. In theory, these two colours shouldn't blend well and at first, Blaze was worried about this. But once he had finished painting and had looked around his room, he proudly saw that the colours went excellently together.

Blaze had also put up a massive canvas painting that Slam had given him as a "welcome to the loonatics" present. The canvas depicted the 7 loonatics side by side and all in a battle stance ready to leap into action. It was very good. And when Blaze had discovered that Slam had painted it himself he was astonished. This was because, not only did Slam not seem like the artistic, but after all, he didn't exactly have small hands.

After thinking about it for what seemed like an age, Blaze had decided to put the painting on the back wall above his bed. Because the painting was so big, Blaze realised that it would take some extra muscle to get the painting up there, so he called next door to Ace for help who gladly consented to help, and after a few wobbly and hairy moments, the picture was up on the wall. It looked fantastic. It fitted in perfectly, and seemed as if it had been there for a long time.

Blaze had smiled at Ace and had said: _"Next time I put something that big up on a wall, I'll be more careful not to break my neck!" _The two loonatics had then burst out laughing in unison.

Blaze had also added the odd nick-knack to his room to make it feel roomier, such as an alarm clock with a face that glowed orange in the dark and purple bed clothes. When it was all done, the room looked brilliant. But most importantly, Blaze felt very comfortable in it.

For the rest of that day, Blaze had fun with the others. They watched TV, played video games, pool and also had a ping pong tournament which was unsurprisingly won by Rev.

The evening had been the best part of the day though. The Saturday night game of Basherball was on and like the other loonatics, Blaze was a big fan of Basherball. All through his teenage years on the street he had loved this exhilarating sport, and on numerous occasions, he had snuck in to home games at the Acmetropolis Grand Arena and watched the game from the giant balcony which circled around the top of the giant stadium. It was one of the best views in Acmetropolis.

But watching it now, enjoying it with friends, even though he wasn't there in the flesh as he had been so many times before, was even better. The bond between Blaze and his friends was constantly growing stronger. Growing up, the tiger never thought that he could ever be as happy as he was in that very moment.

The loonatics had so much fun that evening that they lost track of time, and as a result they all went to their rooms at 2 o'clock in the morning.

Because of their late night, Ace had decided to let everyone sleep in, although they weren't able to stay in bed for too long. This was because that day, the loonatics were having a public appearance. They were publicly announcing that they had a new team member.

Blaze had been very apprehensive about appearing in public at first due to his troubled past, which had made him afraid of big crowds, but once he was up on the rostrum, in the middle of the beautiful Golden Square, shaking the mayors hand with thousands of people cheering his name, he felt a lot better. He felt alive. And the fact that his teammates were there to give him smiles and winks of encouragement when he turned to look at them helped him a lot.

As he had got into bed that night, Blaze was happy with how the day had gone. His fear that the public would not accept him had been beaten. In fact, on the contrary they loved him. The public appearance had given him a massive confidence boost.

Blaze went to sleep that evening feeling overjoyed. As a child on the streets, the tiger had never even dreamed of the events that had happened, and were still to happen to him. Life as a loonatic was so different. Almost like a celebrity, except the job was perilous, and the fate of millions was pushing down on your shoulders. And yet, as he always did, Blaze relished the challenges that awaited him.

Blaze snapped back into the present moment. He smiled as he picked up his suit and threw his towel onto his bed and started to put his suit on.

A couple of minutes later, Blaze pulled tightly on his dark blue right glove for a secure fit. His suit was on and he looked in his tall mirror to quickly check himself. _Nice _he thought to himself as he uttered a small chuckle. Blaze had never been one for noticing or caring about his physical appearance, but in his loonatics uniform, he thought he looked quite good.

Once he was satisfied, he left his room and headed up the hallway towards the main room where his teammates were all waiting. Blaze had been anticipating today ever since he became a loonatic.

Today was the day that the loonatics all trained together every week. And it was the first time that Blaze would be joining them.

Blaze entered the room and walked over to the long couch to sit down. But once he got there he discovered an obstacle in his way in the form of Tech sprawled out on the couch asleep. The tiger pondered his options for a couple of seconds and then his fiery golden eyes locked on a large book which was opened and upside down in the dozing coyote's lap.

Over the last few centuries, books had become very old fashioned due to the technological advances. But surprisingly, Tech still read them. Blaze remembered his intelligent friend telling him that he found it easier and more soothing to read information in a book rather than on an electric screen.

Blaze picked up the opened book, moved it towards and positioned right next to Tech's ear and then, with all his might, slammed it shut. The massive bang which could be heard all over the room and caused the others to look up in wonder, caused the sleeping coyote to suddenly skyrocket into the air screaming like a schoolgirl. Tech flew about 10 feet in the air and then as gravity once again took control, he came crashing back down to the ground with a loud thump.

Everyone collapsed to the ground in laughter. Blaze just grinned as he jumped over the back of the circular couch and made himself comfortable, stretching his arms and linking his fingers together on the back of his head in a laid back fashion. **"Oh thanks Tech! I appreciate you moving for me!" **he joked with a massive grin. This witty comment made his teammates laugh even harder.

"**HAHAHA-that-was-so-so-so-awesome!" **Exclaimed Rev as he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"**Hahaha….nice….haha….one….ha….Blaze….hahahahahaha!" **Lexi commended with a thumbs up as she tried to control her ridiculously cute giggling and get the words out.

Slam laughed loudly revealing his massive teeth as he struggled for breath.

Tech slowly stood up, rubbing his backside **"Cheers for the wakeup call Blaze!" **the coyote said with a wry smile. He couldn't help but smile.

After a while, the mass of laughter died down, eyes were dried and the loonatics regained their composure. On the couch, Blaze moved up to allow a still drowsy Tech to sit back down.

Blaze noticed his friends exhausted state. **"You stayed up all night in the lab again didn't ya buddy" **he said, as a statement rather than a question.

Tech wearily smiled in response as he leaned back in his seat. **"Somebody has gotta make all your gear Blaze" **he replied as he closed his green eyes.

"**I know that, and I really appreciate it Tech, but ya need to sleep pal." **He said with a sympathetic smile as he put his hand on his friends shoulder and slightly shaked.

"**Yeah…" **Tech answered the tiger quietly **"Sleep sounds good…" **and with that he fell asleep again.

Blaze grinned as Tech fell sideways and curled up into a cocoon position on the couch. **"Looks like Tech won't be training with us today." **He stated to the others.

Ace looked up from his platform. **"Yeah, well he desoives a rest." **

Blaze nodded and walked over to the window to look down at the city below. **"Okay so we are all good guys, what're we waiting for?"** he openly asked eagerly.

Lexi was the one to answer. **"The question is WHO are we waiting for" **she stated as she rolled her emerald eyes.

Rev sprung out of his seat and whizzed across the room and down the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

A few seconds later, the others heard the roadrunner banging on a door, presumably Duck's. **"C'mon-Duck-we're-all ready-out-here-and -you're-taking-a-millennium!" **he shouted.

There was no response.

Lexi huffed loudly as she got out of her seat and swiftly walked towards the mouth of the hallway.

Ace watched her as she walked with longing eyes. _She's so cute when she's angry _he thought to himself with a smile.

Lexi stood at the end of the hallway. **"DUCK!" **the doe shouted in an earth-shattering voice causing the room to shake almost.

The door finally opened and the irritated looking Duck walked out. **Alright, alright! I was just putting my lucky sweat bands on!" **he complained as he walked down the hallway with Rev in toe towards the fuming Lexi.

"**Well it doesn't take half an hour to put a few flipping sweatbands on Duck!" **she shouted in response as she turned around and briskly walked over to where a giggling Slam was sitting.

Lexi wasn't in the mood. **"NOT funny Slam!" **she said moodily as she sat down next to the big Tasmanian Devil.

"**Hihihihi, sworjy!" **(sorry)he replied sheepishly.

Finally, all the loonatics (apart from Tech) congregated around the hologram table in the middle of the room.

"**Right, it's Blaze's first time so let's make it a good one guys!" **Ace said encouragingly as he winked at Blaze.

The others enthusiastically nodded. Then they all started towards the training room leaving Tech on the couch to enjoy his sleep.

**Okay so that concludes chapter 9! I hope you guys enjoyed! So I know this chapter wasn't very action packed, but I promise you, the next chapter contains nothing BUT action! So watch out! Lol.**

**Once again I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reviewing this story if you have already. It's so nice to get this much feedback. Please don't stop now! Lol. Bye for now guys :) **


	10. Team Player

New Kid On The Block

Chapter 10 – Team Player

**Hey Guys! Wherever you are I hope you are doing ok and if you have endured my terrible writing all the way through until now then thank you so much! :) I really enjoyed writing this chapter because there is a HELL of a lot of action in it! So in this chapter, Blaze joins his teammates for a group training session. How will things go? Time to find out! Enjoy!**

"**Blaze, watch out!" **shouted Ace from amidst the havoc across the room.

Blaze turned around just in time as a neuron blast buzzed straight towards him. He dropped to the ground just in time as it went flying overhead, barely missing his head.

"**Thanks Ace" **He shouted back after getting back to his feet but staying crouched.

The tiger looked up from his crouched position and scanned around for the source of the blast.

_Bingo _he said to himself as he locked on to a robot with its arm cannon outstretched and pointed straight at Blaze. The blue-clad loonatic poised himself ready for the robot who was surely about to fire a second blast. It did.

A bright orange blast erupted from the robot's arm cannon and darted towards the crouching Blaze. He waited until the last possible second and then launched himself into the air. With a spinning summersault, Blaze landed on the ground.

He stared at the robot and his eyes turned blue. He didn't like being shot at… He creased his face up in anger as he gathered up energy and crouched. He opened both of his hands slightly as little blue energy balls started to appear in them. The electro-gyro balls got bigger and soon, they were both the size of a large water melon. Blaze then brought both his hands together and the two crackling balls of energy combined to create a single massive gyro ball.

Blaze drew back his hands, planting his feet firmly on the ground and then with all of his might, he thrust forward releasing the enormous ball of cobalt blue electricity sending it blitzing towards the robot which had shot at him. The gyro ball left crackling streaks of electricity in its wake as it flew nearer and nearer to its target.

But, when it was only 10 metres away from completely obliterating the target, a group of bots obliviously ran into the path of the ball. It exploded as it impacted with one of the bots. The resulting explosion was massive. Robots that weren't destroyed by the initial explosion of energy were thrown in all directions, engulfed in blue electricity.

But annoyingly for Blaze, the explosion hadn't destroyed the bot he intended to destroy in the first place.

The robot fired another blast at the enraged Blaze who only just managed to dodge it. He was really angry now. His eyes turned blue again and he snarled as he took off and ran full sprint towards the robot.

It fired again. This time, Blaze conjured up another gyro ball and flung it to intercept the blast. The blasts collided with each other and exploded.

Blaze ducked, dodged and jumped as he ran, avoiding the continuous fire from the robot. Eventually, the bot stopped firing as it had to replace the energy crystal in its arm cannon. Blaze used this to his advantage and he thrust his arm towards the wall behind the bot. Blaze used his magnetic powers and one of the swords flew off of the rack on the wall and came spearing towards the back of the robot, with the tip of its blade facing forward.

The robot had reloaded and was getting ready to aim at the fast approaching Blaze when the sword gored his body from behind. It pierced all the way through the robots metal body slashing through wires and energy cells until it penetrated the thick metal plate of the robot's stomach and flew out of the other side. The sword had left a massive gaping hole in the bot's abdomen.

Blaze released his magnetic powers on the flying sword and caught it as it fell towards the ground. Blaze continued to run at the robot and finally finished the job as he did a small leap and slashed the robot's head off with the sword. The metal head rolled off of the shoulders of the robot as it fell to the ground and disappeared.

_Piece of scrap metal _He bitterly said to himself as his anger subsided.

The entire room was blazing with action. Slam, Rev and Duck were grouped in the middle of the room, completely surrounded but just about managing.

Duck rapidly threw his eggs at the oncoming bots trying to slow them down. Whenever a bot got too near, he would quack out of the way leaving the bot confused in his wake.

"**Heads up Slam!" **The mallard frantically pointed at a robot that was advancing on Slam.

Slam grabbed the massive metal fist that was hammering down on him and rugby tackled it to the ground before quickly getting to his feet as the waves of bots continued attacking.

Rev was on overwatch and kept a keen eye on his teammates and shouted warnings to them when a robot got too close. He also used his sonic speed to dart in between robots acting as a distraction and drawing their attention away from the other loonatics.

In the corner of the room, Ace and Lexi stood side by side, cornered. They took out some of the bots using their respective laser vision and brain blasts, but they kept coming closer and closer. Each bot that was destroyed was instantly replaced by another.

"**Erm… Any ideas chief?" **Lexi asked in a slightly worried tone as she continued firing her brain blasts.

"**Still tinkin'" **he replied in slight desperation. The situation seemed hopeless.

But then, from behind the bots, something leaped high into the air. It was Blaze.

He gymnastically summersaulted before landing right in front of the two bunnies.

"**Hey guys! Looks like you need a hand!" **he started before looking over his shoulder at the advancing robots. **"Err hang on a sec." **he continued before turning around to face the army of metal that continued to close in. He clenched his fists tightly as they started emitting electrical blue energy. His eyes turned blue as he powerfully slammed his fists into the ground creating a massive shockwave which flew forward, like a powerful wave crashing towards the shoreline. All of the robots were thrown backwards, completely immobilized by the massive wave of energy. Robots that got back up were destroyed when Blaze caused them to smash into each other with his magnetic powers. The last robot rushed at Blaze, which was a bad move.

Blaze used his magnetism to bring the bot flying towards him and as it came within range, Blaze leaped into the air delivering a 360 smash kick to the bot's metal jaw. The strength and power in Blaze's leg sent the stricken robot flying across the room and crashing into the training room wall. The bot disappeared as it collided with the wall.

Blaze breathed in and out deeply as he turned around to face his teammates.

Both of the bunnies looked at each other, and then back at their blue teammate, a look of disbelief on both their faces.

"**Whoa, nice one Blaze. Tanks for de save." **Ace commended as a look of normality returned to his face.

"**Yeah that was awesome!"** Lexi agreed as she nodded.

Blaze smiled in response to the praise as he continued to regain his breath. **"No…Worries." **He puffed in response.

Across the room, Slam had just finished off the last of the bots using his thunder mode and he, Rev and Duck were all spread out on the floor panting.

Ace, Lexi and Blaze all walked over to join their teammates.

"**Nice job guys, dat was a tricky one…" **Ace stated as he helped Duck up.

"**Phew-you-got-that-right-chief! Tech-said-that-he-had-increased-the-intelligence-of-the-bots-but-i-didn't-think-he-would-make-them-this-hard!" **Rev clarified as he was pulled up by Blaze.

Rev was right. The simulated bots were definitely smarter than usual. The loonatics were all relieved that they were up against simulated robots rather than the real thing.

"**Oh well, at least they're actually a challenge now. Before you could probably hit them with a pillow and they would fall down!" **Lexi joked. The others smiled at her comment.

"**Hehe, slight exaggeration Lex, but not far off!" **Ace replied with a chuckle as he winked at Lexi. She smiled back, but quickly had to turn away as she started blushing outrageously.

With training done, they all started for the door.What the loonatics didn't know was that the simulation was far from over…

Like a bolt of lightning striking unexpectedly, a horde of simulated robots appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the stunned loonatics, causing them to stop in their tracks.

They all stood in silence for a few moments before Blaze broke the silence. **"O-kay then… I guess we aint done yet…"** he said as he looked at the others.

"**Oh c'mon! No fair!" **Duck exclaimed with a look of helplessness. **"I was so looking forward to a protein shake and a salad sandwich!"**

"**Chill out Duck, ya can eat once we've finished off dis lot." **Ace said as he looked around and frowned as he saw that they were completely surrounded.

Slam looked down at his stomach as it grumbled. **"Uj-oj" **(Uh-oh) Slam chuckled nervously with a lost puppy look on his giant face.

Lexi smiled sympathetically at the Tasmanian Devil. **"Don't worry big guy. This will be over in a flash."** She assured as she patted him on the back.

"**Okay guys, here's de plan. We need ta stay togeder dis time. If we split up, den it will take longer to take dem all out. So stick togeder, and watch our backs." **Commanded Ace. It seemed like a good plan, let the enemy come to them, that way they wouldn't get split up.

The others all nodded and sprang into action. They all formed a circle with their backs to each other. This way they wouldn't get attacked from behind where they were most vulnerable. All they had to do now, was wait for the robots to make the first move.

After a few tense moments, the robots striked.

A large bot came rushing at Ace and swung its massive arm at the bunny. He effortlessly dodged it and quickly regained his balance. It was his turn now. Before you could blink, Ace had finished the robot off by tripping it up with a sweeping kick causing it to fall flat on its back, and then slamming his elbow down hard on the robot's face. The disabled bot disappeared.

Ace composed himself as he readied himself for the next bot which ran at him like a wild animal. Ace unsheathed his sword and with a single elegant swing, he sliced the metal bot in half. The two pieces fell to the ground before disappearing.

Ace put his sword away, thinking he had bought himself some time. But out of nowhere, a bot jumped at him. The startled Ace didn't have time to defend himself so he gave a quick blast of his laser vision, completely obliterating the bot in mid-air.

Next to Ace, Lexi fired a massive brain blast at a group of oncoming bots, destroying them instantly, but through the mass of black smoke from the blast charged more bots. Lexi quickly dispatched them all by dodging their swings and punches and then blasting them with the powerful energy which she shot from her ears.

Duck was accurately throwing his eggs at the waves of bots that ran at him. The accuracy and speed with which he threw his eggs meant that not a single bot got near him. Eventually, the bots resorted to trying to pick off Duck with their arm cannons. Even this didn't work though, because whenever one of the neuron blasts got too close, Duck would quickly quack out of the way. He was proving to be very tricky.

A particularly fast robot ran at Duck and managed to dodge all of the mallard's fiery eggs and before Duck could conjure up any more, the bot was upon him. It wrapped Duck in its arms and started to crush him painfully. But Duck wasn't fazed. He quacked out of the robot's iron grip and appeared behind it. He then shoved the bot with all his might sending it tumbling towards Blaze, who was waiting for it. Once it was within range, the tiger smashed his fist into the bot's chest sending it flying across the room, knocking over countless other bots in the process.

Slam was very tempted to just wreak havoc on the bots, but Ace had told him that they had to stay together. Just like the others, he was letting the mass of simulated robots come to him. He would either use his brute strength to deliver devastating punches to the bots sending them flying across the room and crashing into the robots behind them like dominoes, or he would toy with them and use a variety of wrestling moves to disable them.

Across the room, he saw that Rev had been surrounded and was in big trouble. Slam instinctively used his tornado maximizer and raced towards his teammate. Like a hungry predator he launched himself at the bots knocking them all over before finishing them off with his thunder mode.

"**Cheers-Slam!" **Rev gratefully said with a relieved sigh.

Rev was making the job much easier for his teammates. He was using his sonic speed to run round and round, darting in front of the charging bots to knock them off balance leaving them defenceless to the other loonatics. He was also constantly shouting warnings to his teammates. He was a big help.

Blaze was utterly destroying anything that came near him. With his fast and deadly fighting moves, and his powerful electro-gyro balls, any bot that came within range of him was dealt with easily. When trying to take Blaze on 1 on 1 obviously failed, the bots tried ganging up on him. But Blaze simply used his magnetism to smash them all into each other.

They kept on coming. Two bots ran at him at once and as they got close, Blaze flipped over them causing them to skid to a halt. But before they even looked round, Blaze had flung a gyro ball which exploded in their face with an electrical buzzing noise.

Blaze ran at an oncoming group of bots, completely forgetting Ace's orders to stay as a group. As the adrenaline flowed like a blazing wildfire through Blaze's body, he was totally focussed on destroying every last one of the bots. Dodging all the attempted blows and strikes from the bots, Blaze eventually found himself surrounded by them. But like a tornado, he leaped up and ferociously spin kicked the bots in their broad heads, knocking them in all directions.

Seeing that there were no more bots around him, The rush of adrenaline finally died down and Blaze realised how far he had stayed from his friends. He jogged back to his post to help his friends. Only a few bots remained now.

Ace looked over his shoulder to see Blaze coming towards him. **"Dere ya are! I wondered where ye had got te." **Ace exclaimed as he blocked a swinging kick from the bot he was fighting.

"**Yeah! Got a bit carried away!"** Blaze admitted as he turned so that he was back to back with his leader.

A few minutes later and there was only one bot left. It ran at the loonatics who now all stood in a line and simultaneously, Ace used his laser vision, Lexi used her brain blast, Blaze thrust a gyro ball, Duck threw an egg and Slam used his thunder mode.

There was a massive rainbow coloured explosion as the different coloured blasts of energy destroyed the last remaining robot leaving a thick black smoke.

The smoke finally cleared and the loonatics all stood in the middle of the massive training room.

They were all on guard in case another army of simulated robots appeared all around them. After about half a minute, they realised they had finally finished.

There was high five's and pats on the back all around as they congratulated each other on a good, but very tricky training session.

"**Nice one guys." **Ace said before quickly sniffing his armpit and wincing. **"Right lets hit de showers, we stink!" **he joked.

The others chuckled as they made their way towards the door of the training room.

About half an hour later, everyone had showered and got dressed and were now all sitting on the large circular couch, talking about the events of the training session.

"**So how did you find your first training session Blaze?" **asked Tech, who was now awake.

Blaze smiled as his captivating golden eyes twinkled. "**Yeah it was great. I knew it was gunna be good, but it was even better." **He replied. **"And that training room is awesome Tech."**

The coyote smugly grinned at Blaze's comment as he leaned back. **"Of course it is. I invented it!" **he joked.

The others all laughed at Tech's trademark saying.

Duck wasn't laughing though. **"Oh come on its just a training room! Heck I coulda invented it!" **he commented putting emphasis on the "I" as he shrugged his shoulders.

This caused the others to laugh even harder, leaving Duck frowning in annoyance.

The laughter eventually died down.

All of a sudden there was a massive growling sound. The others all looked at Slam, who was staring down at his stomach. He chuckled. **"Fojdf?" **he hopefully asked the others?

They all smiled and laughed.

"**Haha, good idea Slam. Let's get some grub!"** said Lexi enthusiastically as she bounded from her seat.

The others all agreed and got up from the couch to head to the kitchen.

But just as they had got up, the hologram table bleeped.

Everyone stared at the table tensely for what seemed like an age before Zadavia finally appeared. **"Loonatics, we have a serious problem…"**

**Okay guys so there we go! I really enjoyed doing this chapter. Lots of action! So in the next chapter, we find out why Zadavia has paid a cyber-visit to the Loonatics. Any ideas? Haha, anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter and please gimme your feedback! :)**

**P.S. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. Will try my best to get chapter 11 up sooner! Thanx guys :) **


	11. Watch This Space

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 11 – Watch This Space

**Hey Guys! Im finally back! I'm soooooooo sorry that I've been gone for so long. I've just been having a little hiatus so to speak. Anyway, hope you guys are okay wherever you are and whatever it is you are doing **** Anyway it is finally time to get back to the gang. So, last time we left them, they had just been contacted by Zadavia about a "serious problem." What could it be? It's time to find out! Hope you guys enjoy **

The loonatics all exchanged nervous glances. Zadavia had never said "serious problem" before briefing them on a mission. Something was wrong.

Blaze was particularly nervous. He knew the time had come: his first mission. He had often thought about this moment over the last couple of days, and he had anticipated it excitedly. But now that it was actually happening, he felt sick with nervousness.

"**There isn't much time" **Zadavia declared in a frantic voice.

The loonatics, apart from Blaze who was still anxiously shaking, all frowned. It wasn't like Zadavia to sound anxious. Something was very wrong.

Ace was the next to speak **"What's up Zadavia?"**

Zadavia was very quick to answer **"You must hurry Loonatics; the lives of millions are in your hands. Get to the ship, I shall explain on the way!" **

The loonatics all stood rooted to their places, frozen like icicles.

"**NOW!" **Zadavia shouted, causing them all to snap back to reality.

"**Alright Loonatics, lets jet!" **Ace commanded, and the rest of them launched into action.

Despite the massive confusion, brought on by Zadavia's strange urgency, the Loonatics had made it to the ship reasonably quickly and were under way. As usual, Tech was piloting the ship, assisted by Rev. The problem was though, none of them knew where they were supposed to be going.

Tech turned around to face the others **"Umm guys, do we actually know where we are g-"**

Tech was cut off by a familiar voice **"I have put the coordinates on your screen Tech." **Zadavia explained as her face appeared on the central console.

Tech looked down at his flight screen and saw an array of numbers **"Right… Thanks Zadavia. Rev, punch those numbers in." **he said to his teammate.

Rev's fingers moved like lightning as he typed in the coordinates. **"Done." **The roadrunner confirmed with a thumbs up.

The ship slowly changed direction and jetted towards the coordinates that Zadavia had provided.

It wasn't long before the ship left the atmosphere of Acmetropolis and entered space.

Blaze gazed out of the window in awe of what he was seeing. In all his life he had never left Acmetropolis. He had never known what it was like in space. He had never seen the beauty that so many talked of. But now he had, and the wait had been worth it.

The ship glided on, going seemingly nowhere.

After a while, Ace left his seat and made his way over to the giant hologram of Zadavia. **"So what's all de fuss about Zadavia? Another meteorite about te crash into Acmetropolis or summin?" **he inquired.

"**Close Ace" **Came her reply **"but no. It's much worse than a meteorite."**

The others, apart from Rev and Tech turned around with concerned looks. So something was coming to Acmetropolis, something which according to Zadavia was a big threat. But what was it? Lexi, Blaze, Duck and Slam all got out of their seats and joined Ace at the hologram console.

"**A missile" **began Zadavia seriously **"A large missile is on a collision course with Acmetropolis." **

They all exchanged nervous glances, and then looked back at the hologram.

Zadavia continued **"Now, I have taken into account both the speed at which the missile is travelling and the distance it is from Acmetropolis and figures show that the missile will collide with the surface of Acmetropolis in less than 30 minutes. Your job Loonatics is to stop the missile before that happens." **

They all looked round at each other again. How were they going to stop a missile? Was their immediate thought. But Zadavia wasn't finished yet…

"**Loonatics" **she began, and the others all looked back at her pale image. **"You MUST stop this missile from reaching Acmetropolis. Scanners indicate that this missile is carrying at least 100 tonnes of Axovorinium." **she stated.

The Loonatics were unsure what to make of this fact. Most of them didn't know what Axovorinium was. But Tech, who of course did know, turned around with a horrified look on his face. **"100 tonnes of Axovorinium?!" **said the shocked coyote **"That's enough explosive power to-" **

"**To completely destroy Acmetropolis, yes…" **Zadavia finished for Tech.

Lexi gasped, and the others became wide eyed at hearing this.

"**That is why you cannot fail in this mission Loonatics, the fate of everyone on Acmetropolis depends on you." **She continued in an anxious tone, looking at them individually.

There was a long silence as the Loonatics took in the seriousness of the situation and also the disastrous consequences if they failed.

After what seemed like a long time, Ace looked back up at Zadavia **"We won't fail Zadavia." **He simply stated with determination.

Zadavia smiled at the fearless leader of the Loonatics **"I have complete faith in you." **She assured, and they all smiled at her encouraging words. **"One more thing Loonatics, scanners also indicate that the missile is heavily guarded by an unknown type of robots, so be careful."** She added with caution.

They all nodded seriously in reply. **"Suckers knew we would try and stop the missile" **said Lexi with a frown.

Zadavia nodded to Lexi's remark **"Best of luck loonatics. Zadavia out" **as soon as she had finished speaking, her hologram disappeared, leaving the loonatics lost and confused.

"**No disrespect to the boss lady but uh, HOW THE HECK are we supposed to stop a missile?!" **exclaimed Duck, throwing his arms in the air as he stomped over to and sat down in his seat.

Ace shot an annoyed look at the mallard **"I'm woikin on it Duck" **he explained as he paced up and down the ship, deep in thought.

Lexi was likewise lost in concentrated thought as she went and leaned against one of the ships consoles.

Blaze stood rooted to his spot, still taking in the daunting task that he and his teammates had to undertake. He had just started a brand new life, full of happiness and promise for the future, but already it was in danger of being destroyed. _Duck is right _he thought _how are we going to stop a missile?_

As the tiger pondered this, he noticed Slam standing on the other side of the hologram console with a similar look of confusion on his face. Blaze smiled at his large friend as he walked over to him. **"Don't worry Slam, im sure we'll figure something out" **he said encouragingly as he pated Slam on the back.

This pat seemed to turn on a light bulb in Slam's brain as a spark of inspiration came to the Tasmanian devil. He smiled as he turned to face Blaze and mumbled: **"Blaji cohu cahgut matfya!" **in an excited voice.

The others all turned in wonderment to look at Slam.

"**What was that big guy?" **Lexi asked as she and Ace walked over to where Slam and Blaze were standing.

Slam repeated himself, looking between Ace, Lexi and Blaze and pointing at the tiger in the meantime.

Ace translated **"Blaze can control metal?" **he said with a look of wonderment. It wasn't until a few moments later that the bunny grasped the hidden meaning of Slam's words.

He smiled wryly as he looked at Lexi who was grinning at him **"You thinking what im thinking skipper?" **she asked.

He grinned back at the doe **"Sure am Lex" **he replied with a cheeky wink. **(I know you guys love your Acexi ;)**

Both Ace and Lexi then looked over at Blaze grinning, the tiger returning a nervous smile. He knew exactly what the two rabbits were thinking, but he didn't share their confidence.

"**So what if he controls metal!**" complained Duck as he stood up from his seat frustrated **"What exactly does that have to do with…" **Duck stopped mid-sentence as it finally dawned upon him.

The others all stared at the mallard with the look they always gave him when he had been thick headed. **"Airhead" **said Lexi. The others all laughed at Lexi's remark, except for Duck who just scowled at them.

After the laughter had died down, Ace, Slam and Duck went over to Tech and Rev to start forming a plan now that they knew how to stop the missile. But Lexi had noticed the worried look on Blaze's face.

"**Hey Blaze, everything okay?" **she asked with a comforting smile as she walked over to him.

Blazed looked up at her, his golden eyes shining brilliantly and slightly smiled back. **"Yeah im ok thanks… Im just nervous is all" **he said with a small, unconvincing laugh.

Lexi's smile grew as she tried to put the troubled tiger at ease **"I know how you feel Blaze" **She started **"I felt the exact same way on my first mission" **she continued as she recalled the first time she had experienced what it really means to be a guardian of the universe. **"You get a sick feeling in your stomach, you wanna just run away and forget about being a loonatic, but trust me Blaze, it's worth it when it's all over. It's an amazing feeling when you know that you have saved lives."**

Blaze smiled at her comforting words **"Thanks Lexi. But it's not just that that's bothering me."** He said as he turned around and walked towards a large window and gazed into the blackness of space. **"I know that I'm going to have to stop that missile" **he began as Lexi came and joined him at the window **"But I have never controlled anything as large as that… I don't know if I will be able to do it." **He explained in a doubtful tone as he turned to look into Lexi's stunning green eyes.

Lexi smiled at him with sympathy and put a hand on his shoulder. She knew the feeling of self-doubt well. **"After seeing what you can do Blaze, I don't think that there's anything you can't control!" **she joked as she laughed.

Blaze grinned at her **"Thank you Lexi… that really means a lot"**

She nodded; glad that she could help her new teammate. She looked over at the others, who were deep in conversation on what to do. **"So shall we go join the guys?" **she asked with a dashing smile.

Blaze smiled back and nodded in reply. Lexi's words had given him some much needed confidence. The two Loonatics went and joined their teammates.

Half an hour later, all 7 of them stood in a circle. They had come up with a plan.

"**Okay so dis is how it's gunna go" **Ace began as the others turned to face him.

"**Blaze, you're gunna stop de missile using your electromagnetism." **He explained pointing at the tiger who nodded determinedly.

"**Den Tech will hack into de missile's control system and disarm de Axovo- something or odder (other), making it non-lethal." **He continued.

"**Got it chief" **responded Tech enthusiastically.

Ace nodded in response **"In de mean time, Rev will control de ships cannons, and me, Lex, Slam and Duck will keep de robots occupied outside of de ship." **Finished Ace, confident that it was a solid plan. **"Everybody happy with de plan?"** And all of them nodded to their leader. **"Good."**

Duck was the next to speak **"Soo, I guess now we just gotta wait for that missile t-"**

Duck was interrupted by an ear piercing alarm which was followed by an announcement from the ship's computer: **"Warning! Warning! Unidentified missile incoming!"**

"**Never mind then…" **Duck said with an embarrassed smile.

The alarm continued to bleep and they all became wary as they looked out of all the windows for any sign of the missile.

"**Alright guys, you all know what te do" **began Ace as the others turned to face him, a serious look covering all their faces. **"Let's do dis"**

This was it…

**So there we go guys! The loonatics have the lives of millions pressing on their shoulders, what will be the outcome? We will find out next chapter. **

**Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, sorry again for leaving you hanging for so long with this story not knowing what gunna was happen next, but im back! Thank you for all your reviews so far, they are brilliant! ;)**

**Just one question guys, in future would you like me to keep the chapters shorter (about 2000 words) like this one so that you guys don't have to wait as long for a chapter. Or would you like them longer so that you get more story in each chapter, but obviously will have to wait a little longer. Please tell me what you guys would like in your reviews. **

**Thanks again guys, you are awesome! **


	12. Show Time

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 12 – Show Time

**Hey Guys! Hope you are all good wherever you are in the world ;) hope you all had a great holidays. So, I just wanna thank you guys for giving me such a warm welcome back, feels like I've never been gone! And thanks for all your great reviews and feedback **** they are great! I just want to quickly thank everyone for their opinion when I asked how long you think the chapters should be, and I have decided that I shall simply make the chapters as long as I feel like it! Hope you all don't mind ;)**

**So anyway, onto the action! So when we last left them, the Loonatics had the lives of millions in their hands, a particular pressure falls on Blaze as it is his first mission. Will the Loonatics be able to stop the missile and save Acmetropolis? Time to find out! Hope you enjoy guys! **

"**Rev! Stop de ship!" **shouted Ace above the raging alarm as he glanced out of the ship's large window.

Rev, as always reacted quickly. **"I'm-on-it-chief!" **he shouted back as he dashed to the pilot's seat and flung himself into the chair. He then grabbed the brake lever and slowly began to pull it down and gradually, the ship began to slow down.

The alarm continued to wail like a banshee throughout the ship, adding to the already tense atmosphere.

"**Can't anyone turn that despicable thing off!?" **moaned Duck as he plugged his feathers in his ears to try and block out the ear shattering sound.

Tech turned and glared at his teammate **"Not really the most important thing right now Duck!" **the coyote argued **"Now let's go!"**

Blaze was confused; the sudden alarm had caused him to panic slightly. _Cmon Blaze, pull it together _he told himself.

At that moment a blur of yellow dashed before the tiger's eyes. **"Let's go Blaze" **called Ace as he looked behind.

Blaze quickly regained his composure and ran after his leader towards the cargo hold. The tiger almost tripped as he dashed through the airlock door. He gave a waiting Slam the thumbs up to show that he was the last through, and the Tasmanian devil hammered a large green button which caused the airlock door to slide shut with a whoosh.

The cargo hold was full of loonatics gear; their bikes, the jetpacks, along with a variety of weapons and gismos that only Tech knew what they were and what they did. The Loonatics' spacesuits all hung along one of the walls in the cargo hold. Blaze's suit, which was brand new, was right down the end near the cargo hold door.

Ace did a quick head count to check that everyone was there and had to quickly remind himself that Rev was staying in the ship. **"Okay guys, suit up" **the bunny commanded.

They all ran to their individual suits and began donning them. The suits were big and heavy and they had a lot of extra "toys" that had to be strapped on. This meant that the high tech suits took a long time to put on. Duck still had bumps and bruises to prove what happens when you try to put the suits on too quickly. Eventually, they were all in their suits with their jetpacks strapped on.

Blaze had obviously taken longest being inexperienced and hadn't had much practice, but he had still managed to get his suit on not long after the others. As he walked to join his teammates at the cargo door, he slightly untightened one of his gauntlets which, in his nervous shaking he had strapped on to tight. He took his place next to Tech.

Ace looked at all his teammates who all nodded back to say that they were ready. The bunny raised his arm to his mouth and spoke into his com. **"We're ready Rev, open de cargo door."**

By now the ship had come to a complete stop and there was a small wait as Rev frantically searched for the button to open the cargo door, he finally found it and pressed it.

Back in the cargo hold there with a massive sucking sound as the door started to slowly open. Tech stood with a case in his left hand, which contained the tools he would need to hack the missile. Even though the coyote was experienced in this sort of thing now, he was still nervous. But he wasn't he noticed, as nervous as his teammate standing next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could plainly see Blaze's worried eyes staring blankly at the opening door. **"Nervous?" **he asked simply as he turned his head to look at the tiger.

Blaze continued to look straight ahead, seemingly at nothing. **"Just a bit" **he answered with a slight chuckle. The truth was he was terrified.

Tech smiled at Blaze's comment as he turned to look down at the growing opening in the cargo door. He knew what was troubling Blaze. **"Y'know Blaze" **he began as he looked at his teammate again **"If you don't think you can stop that missile on your own, I can help you." **

Blaze considered Tech's proposition for a moment. In secret he wanted to scream out yes, but he realised that Tech had the most important job of them all in this mission. Anything else for the coyote to worry about could divert him from concentrating on his task. He turned to face his friend. **"Thanks Tech, but you've got a job that you need to focus on too." **He said with a gentle smile.

Tech nodded in appreciation and the two anthros turned back to face the door which was now halfway open.

As they waited silently and patiently, Rev's voice suddenly erupted from their com's. **"By-the-way-guys-I-forgot-to-mention-that-we-are-right-above-a-pretty-big-asteroid-field!"**

They didn't really know what to make of this information, but it gave Blaze an idea. **"Hey guys, if those bots try to stop us from disarming the missile, we could try to draw them down to those asteroids. Then, not only will we have the upper hand in fighting them, but we'll be keeping 'em away from Tech too."**

"**Good tinkin Blaze." **Approved Ace. There were nods of approval and looks that said: "Why didn't I think of that?" from the others.

The door was now almost completely open. Ace gave the others a quick sideways glance and just before he was about to turn back, his eyes locked with Blaze, the tiger's eyes burning like the sun, the tiger was clearly nervous. Ace reassuringly nodded to him which was returned by his teammate.

The large cargo door clanked as it finally came to a halt. Blaze silently gasped as he gazed out in awe at the thing that had been a mystery to him all his life: Space. **"Im finally here…" **he said to himself contentedly.

But there wasn't time now for them to admire the scenery. They activated the jetpacks on their backs. Ace was the first to take the plunge; he leaned forward and like a bullet from a gun, shot out of the back of the ship.

This was the signal for the others to follow and they promptly did so. One by one they followed Ace into the surrounding space. Blaze had taken to flying with a jetpack well. Back on Acmetropolis when he had first started learning, it hadn't taken him long to get the gist of the jetpacks controls.

Lexi and Slam had gone to take a closer look at the asteroid field and had discovered that it was perfect for the situation that Blaze had mentioned to them; a mix of asteroids with patches of flat ground for fighting on, and asteroids with rugged terrain and large caves for leading the bots on a wild goose chase. All in all, a perfect place to distract the bots away from Tech.

Eventually they all gathered in front of the ship. And there, they waited…

A couple of minutes went by and still nothing, no sign of the missile. Another couple of minutes, still nothing…

Eventually Duck, who being Duck, naturally got impatient. **"Is this thing gunna get here any time this century?! Im getting old here!" **Usually the others would tell Duck to stop whining, but they were all in their heads asking the same question that he was.

_Hmm Duck's right _thought Ace. The bunny turned around to face Rev, who was inside the ship still perched in the Pilot seat. Ace raised his arm to speak into his com **"Wat's de Radar sayin bout de missile Rev?"**

Rev looked down at the radar screen for a few moments before speaking urgently into his own com. **"One-minute-away-Ace-and-its-headed-straight-for-us!" **

Ace turned back around and stared into the distance, squinting his sparkling sapphire eyes as he used his enhanced vision to look for any sign of the incoming missile. And then…

"**Dere she is…" **Ace whispered as he pointed straight ahead into the distance where he saw a faint orange glow. **"Do ya see it?"** The others looked to where their leader was pointing but obviously, because their eye sights weren't as adept as his, they saw nothing.

Then, Lexi's super hearing started to pick up a faint rumbling sound. **"Do you guys hear that?"** The rest of the loonatics strained their ears, but to no avail.

But then, after a few seconds went by, there it was…

Tech was the first of him, Slam, Blaze, Lexi or Duck to see it, the faint orange glow which was getting brighter and brighter with each passing moment. **"I see it now!"** he exclaimed, and they all looked to where Ace had originally pointed. And true to Ace's word, there it was.

Not long after that, they all head the rumbling that Lexi had mentioned. But as the missile drew closer, the rumbling turned into a roaring, crashing tirade that sounded like a herd of wildebeest running from a vicious pursuing predator, pounding the ground with their hooves as they run, coming nearer and nearer.

40 seconds…

The Loonatics were all slightly taken aback by what they saw. Even though it was far away, they could tell that the missile was incredibly large. But none of them were as shocked as Blaze. His heart sunk as he finally laid eyes on the missile. The time had come to prove himself…

30 seconds…

"**You okay Blaze?" **came the soothing voice of Lexi.

Blaze nodded timidly and smiled in response. Ace came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Blaze turned to face his leader; he was quivering slightly as his nerves grew. **"Yer gunna do great Blaze, we're all behind ye." **said Ace.

All around him, his teammates wore encouraging smiles. **"Thanks guys"** he said as he forced a smile. He gave them all a final look before determinedly turning to face the oncoming missile.

20 seconds…

From that moment he shut everything out, nothing else mattered; it was just him, and the missile. Blaze cleared his head of all other thoughts as he reached out with his energy to find the missile.

The others looked at eachother, serious looks on all of their faces; they knew he could do it…

10 seconds…

Blaze continued to hunt for the missile with his energy; he was close now, very close. And finally _There you are _he thought to himself as he found it. This was it; there was no going back now…

5…

The lives of millions were in his hands,

4…

His friends were believing in him,

3…

He just had to believe in himself,

2…

Blaze, was determined to prevail,

1…

This is it!

Blaze pushed with all his energy as he took control of the raging missile, which was getting ever closer. His teammates, who were behind him watching it all unfold, became wide eyed as the missile became engulfed in Blaze's deep cobalt blue aura.

It felt incredible; he could feel the weight of the missile, the shape of it. Blaze now realised the enormity of his task. With a groan, Blaze began to push against the giant metal object with his magnetism as he tried to slow it down.

As the others watched, they noticed the look of effort covering Blaze's face. **"You ok dere Blaze?" **asked Ace.

But Blaze was concentrating too hard to reply. His energy drained out of his body like water down a plughole as he continued to fight against the large missile. Even though he was starting to tire, he could feel that it was starting to slow. However, it was also getting extremely close. He was running out of time.

The roaring of the missile's jet thrusters was ear shattering. It was now or never. Blaze let out a loud shout as he gave everything he had left. And finally, after a few nerve racking moments, the missile came to a halt. He had done it. But Blaze's job wasn't done yet, even though the missile had stopped the thrusters were still blasting, which meant that Blaze had to keep it under his control until Tech deactivated the thrusters. Blaze turned around wearily to look at his friends, who all gave him beaming smiles.

"**Tech, Slam yer turn." **yelled Ace over the racket of the missile as he darted a look at the coyote and Tasmanian devil.

Tech nodded **"On it chief, let's go Slam" **he said as he gestured to the now stationary missile. Slam mumbled in agreement and both of them jetted away, and headed for the destructive weapon.

Ace, Lexi and Duck flew over to Blaze, who was clearly exhausted at this point, and yet somehow was hanging in. **"Almost dere buddy." **Assured an impressed Ace.

"**You're doing great Blaze" **commended Lexi with a wink.

Blaze was able to muster a small smile of appreciation. But his strength was seriously waning. His vision was getting blurry, the voices of his friends started to sound distant, as if he was drowning under water. He was beggining to black out…

Tech and Slam turned off their jetpacks as they landed on the missile's metal surface. They were looking for a wire panel which contained the wire that controlled the thrusters. According to Tech, the cover for the wire panel should be bright red. You would think this would make it easy to find, but the two loonatics had a surprisingly challenging time trying to locate it.

After a while of searching, Slam had found the said bright red cover and pointed it out to Tech. **"Behji ba ruda!" **

Tech jogged over to join the Tasmanian devil. **"Good eyes Slam" **commended Tech with as he knelt down, placing his case of "toys" next to him as he began to observe the panel. The bright red cover was bolted down by eight strange looking bolts which required a certain type of alloy key to undo them, that unfortunately Tech didn't have, which was less than convenient (OBVIOUSLY :P). The coyote scratched his furry head as he pondered his options. He could have used the laser on the right arm of his space suit to cut the panel but that would take time, and time wasn't on the loonatics' side. But then an obvious idea came to him: Slam. He looked up at the Tasmanian devil, towering over him. **"Would you be so kind Slam?" **he asked as he tapped the panel with one of his claws. He had to shout because of the deafening crashing sound caused by the missile's thrusters.

Slam cracked a wide grin as he knelt down. Tech backed off a bit to give his friend room. Slam then powerfully smashed his claws into the metal that surrounded the panel and grunted as he ripped the red cover off. **"Peti ra hubg" **he mumbled as he let go of the metal cover, letting it float away into space. _He makes it look like ripping a piece of paper from a notepad _noted Tech humourlessly, who never failed to be amazed by Slam's incredible strength. **"Thanks buddy"** said the coyote. He then knelt back down to examine the contents of the wire panel. As he had predicted, it contained a number of different coloured wires. They were coloured red, green, black, white, orange and blue. Now, which one to cut? He wasn't completely sure, but Tech thought that the orange wire was the one that controlled the thrusters. But then again, he didn't want to cut the wrong wire. Then he remembered that on the flight, he and Rev had gotten bored and had looked on the ships computer about the missile's wires and their various functions. Maybe Rev knew…

"**Yo Rev, you there?" **asked the coyote as he spoke into his com.

There was a short silence before the voice of his best friend resounded through the com. **"Loud-and-clear-buddy" **came Rev's speedy reply.

"**Good, just wonderin' do you remember off hand what wire controls the missile's rocket thrusters?" **Asked Tech hopefully.

There was a short silence before Rev responded. **"Be-right-back." **And then was gone.

Tech waited for 30 seconds before his patience ran out. **"C'mon Rev we're running out of t-" **he began before he was interrupted by the road runner.

"**Got-it!" **exclaimed Rev and Tech rolled his eyes. **"Okay-so-sorry-about-the-wait-but-you-know-these-things-take-time-and-this-time-was-no-exception-and-I-suppose-I-shoulda-known-the-answer-to-begin-with-considering-that-I-love-this-kinda-stuff-but-still-" **

"**Anytime today Rev!" **cut in Tech. Now was not the time for Rev's verbal diahorrea he thought.

Rev then realised that he had babbled on too much for not the first time in his life. **"Oh-right-sorry-guys!" **He apologised **"Blue-wire-Tech!" **

Tech's eyes widened slightly _Phew! Glad I didn't decide on orange! _He said to himself gladly. **"Cheers Rev."** he thanked.

Tech was about to set to work when Duck's voice crackled through the com. **"Mind hurryin' up Tech?! Im gettin' bored over here and Blaze looks like he's about to go into a coma!" **

"**Alright Duck keep your tights on." **Joked Tech as he hurriedly pulled out a commando knife that Ace had gotten him for his birthday last year. He then leaned forward into the panel and slid the knife under the blue wire. He shot a sideways glance at Slam before jerking his hand upwards. Electricity crackled as Tech's knife sliced through the wire. Immediately, the roaring crash of the missile's thrusters stopped.

Tech turned to face Slam who was slyly smiling at him. Tech smiled back and gave his friend a high five. **"Habiji blo ruba?" **Slam asked as Tech got to his feet.

"**Honestly Slam? Yes I was worried." **He replied with a grin. **"Come on let's get back to the others." **The coyote said as he picked up his toolbox. They both turned on their jetpacks and then began to make their way back to Ace, Lexi, Blaze and Duck.

As they flew, a thought popped into Tech's head. Something that he needed clearing up. **"Uh Rev, just outta curiosity, what does the orange wire do?" **he asked, confused.

The reply from Rev was instant **"Ah-now-that-one-I-remember! Well-long-story-short-the-orange-wire-controls-the-fuel-supply!"** exclaimed Rev jubilantly. **"Can-you-imagine-if-you-had-cut-the-orange-wire-Tech? Whoooee! That-would-have-short-circuited-the-missile's-fuel-and-the-whole-thing-woulda-gone-KABOOM! Goodbye-us!"** the roadrunner ended with a laugh.

Tech's heart skipped a beat.

Meanwhile…

Blaze was really struggling now; his hearing had almost completely gone and had been replaced by a strange whining sound but he could still faintly hear the roaring of the missile's thrusters, he could barely keep his eyes open, his head was spinning and he felt incredibly weak. But he knew he had to hold on a little longer.

Ace and Lexi watched Blaze with concern, seeing that their friend was clearly suffering. But then finally the crashing sound stopped and both of them glanced over at the missile. The thrusters had stopped. Both bunnies looked at eachother and grinned. **"Tech's dun it" **reasoned Ace. He then looked back to Blaze. He gently began to shake the tiger. **"Ye can let go now pal." **He murmured in Blaze's ear.

Blaze just about heard the words of his leader and finally, with every last bit of his energy spent, he released his hold on the missile. The giant metal object was now just floating in space, motionless and soundless. Blaze quietly gasped as he slouched and fainted, but he was supported and held in place by Ace.

Lexi looked back over at the missile in and she noticed Tech and Slam returning **"I wonder what happened to those robots that Zadavia talked about…" **she said in wonder.

_Hmm Lex is right _thought Ace, but he forgot all about it as Tech and Slam arrived back. **"Good job guys." **He commended, the coyote and Tasmanian devil nodded in acknowledgement.

Both Tech and Slam worriedly looked at Blaze, who was out cold. **"He'll be fine." **Assured Ace in a relaxed tone. **"Okay Tech, what's next on de list?" **the bunny asked, steering things back to the mission.

Tech paused in thought for a moment. **"Okay, well now that we have stopped the missile's primary and secondary thrusters, we just have to find entry into the missile fuselage, find the container that holds the concentration of Axovorinium and then-"** but he instantly stopped as he realised the looks he was getting from everyone.

Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam all glared at Tech. **"So, in a nutshell Tech?" **asked Lexi with a slight frown.

Tech then remembered his teammate's short patience when it came to his lengthy explanations. **"Basically, now we just have to find and disarm the stuff that goes boom." **He said simply.

They all smiled in satisfaction. **"More like it Tech!" **Ace began with a smile and wink. **"Now, let's jet!" **

They all turned on their jetpacks and zoomed off towards their target. **"Any money says that those metal heads that boss lady talked about are waitin' for us in there!" **Duck commented as he flew up alongside Ace.

"**If dey are in dere, we'll just have te improvise Duck." **Ace replied as he thought about what they would do if they did run into the robots. He was holding Blaze up and noticed that the tiger was stirring as he started to regain conciseness.

Lexi was thinking the same thing Ace was, when suddenly her ears picked up a sharp banging sound coming from the missile. **"Whoa hold up guys!" **she exclaimed as she stopped dead and focused her enhanced hearing towards the massive floating object.

The others all stopped to look back at Lexi who was listening intently. **"What's up Lex?" **questioned Ace in wonder. As the bunny waited for his teammate answer, Blaze, who he was still supporting quietly moaned as he opened his eyes.

Blaze felt incredibly weak as he started to wake up. Every bone in his body ached; but he couldn't remember what had happened. He slowly opened his eyes and instantly saw that he was in space. As he wondered why he was here, suddenly the face of a black and yellow rabbit appeared in front of him, and instinct kicked in… **"GET AWAY FROM ME!" **the confused tiger shouted as he pushed the rabbit away. He was breathing heavily as he looked around and saw another rabbit, a coyote, a duck and a large Tasmanian devil all staring at him with shocked and worried looks spread on their faces.

Ace shuffled forward slowly. **"Blaze, it's us! Yer friends…" **he said concerned for his friend.

Blaze floated there, lost and confused for a few moments, and then finally it all came flooding back to him, his friends, the missile, everything. He looked at his leader. **"A…Ace?" **he asked wide eyed.

Ace nodded with a smile. The others all sighed with relief; this just showed that even though Blaze had become their close friend, his troubled past would scar him for the rest of his life. **"I…I'm so sorry guys." **Blaze apologised as he bowed his head.

Ace smiled sympathetically at his friend. **"It's ok pal." **

_Poor Blaze _Lexi thought to herself as she watched her crestfallen friend _can't imagine what he's been through_. But then her mind was distracted by a familiar sound: **Bang! Bang! Bang! **It was louder this time Lexi noticed, much louder. **"Uh Guys?" **Lexi said as she turned to stare at the missile.

The others all turned to stare at it too. They all heard the loud banging now… **Bang! Bang! Bang! **Then, there was silence all of a sudden as the banging strangely stopped. The loonatics waited tensely for a few moments and then…

BOOM!

There was a large explosion on the side of the missile. The shocked loonatics couldn't see what was happening, thanks to a thick cloud of smoke. They all watched warily for about a minute until the smoke finally cleared. And they all frowned seriously at what they were met by.

The Loonatics' weren't alone anymore…

**Dun Dun Duun! So there we are guys! We will find out what is in the loonatics' company in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it was quite a long one but it was an important chapter and I wanted to treat you guys after the warm welcome back **

**On that note I want to thank you guys for all your amazing reviews so far. I can't believe I have got 42 reviews already after only 12 chapters! And a special thanks goes out to Keeanga, Loonaticslover13, Lucy Of Fairy Tail, Luna246 and tamersten, who all gave this Fic a favourite so thank you guys so much ;) please lemme know what you thought of this chapter and anything else you want to say by reviewing **** it's always great to see your guys' thoughts. Thanks again everyone, next chapter will be up soon! **


	13. Heavy Metal

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 13 – Heavy Metal

**Hey Everybody! Hope you're all enjoying your new year so far :) So as usual I wanna thank you guys for your continued support in your reviews, they really help me out and make me all fuzzy inside ;) And to say thank you to all of you individually, im going to start personally replying to all of your reviews here in my author's notes (Thank you to Loonaticslover13 and CrazyCartoonistOtaku for the idea) so here we go!**

**Loonaticslover13: ****Thank you very much for your review, I always really look forward to hearing your thoughts. Ikr! Poor lad! But his ordeal is far from over! And thank you! Epic is an awesome word for you to use :) I don't know if you have seen it but I sent you a review on chapter 3 of One in a Million explaining the whole "Commended" fiasco ;) And you are most welcome :)**

**Lucy Of Fairy Tail: ****Thank you for your continued reviews, they really are heart-warming and im glad you're enjoying the story. Haha, im trying to update as regularly as possible, so please be patient! ;)**

**Luna246: ****Thanks a lot for the review, im glad you like that part, I took a lot of time to think about how to describe the struggle Blaze went through as he stopped the missile so im glad you liked it :) Oh really? I think you should get your gut looked at by a doctor then! ;) Haha only joking, thanks again :)**

**Anyway, onto the action! So last chapter the Loonatics were successful (just!) in halting the large missile which had threatened the safety of Acmetropolis. And just when the mission seemed in the bag, a new challenge has presented itself to our anthro heroes. What is this new threat? And will the Loonatics overcome it? Well it's time to find out! Hope everyone enjoys :)**

The thick, black smoke caused by the mysterious explosion finally cleared and revealed the last thing that the Loonatics wanted to see at that moment. **"I told you those hunks of tin were around!" **boasted Duck **"I'll collect my winnings from the bet later on." **He added sarcastically.

They all shot irritated glances at the mallard and Slam growled slightly, but they had bigger problems to worry about right now, much bigger. Hovering threateningly about 200 metres in front of them, were ten quite large robots. They were black in colour, and were at least twice the size of Slam; all of them stared at the Loonatics with a single, rectangular shaped red eye.

"**Man, wat did dese guys have fer breakfast?" **frowned Ace with his thick Brooklyn accent, referring to their size. **"Wat are de scans pickin' up Tech?" **the bunny asked as he turned to Tech, who was already looking thoughtfully at the small computer screen on his arm.

Tech looked at the screen with a surprised face. **"The scanners aren't coming up with anything!" **he exclaimed as he tapped the screen frantically. He did another scan on the robots again to make sure his computer hadn't glitched, but the result was the same. **"Nothing! It doesn't say what elemental metal they are built from, no weapon readings, it's not even showing any size readings!**" the coyote said, clearly frustrated. The others exchanged surprised looks; it was extremely rare for one of Tech's gismos to malfunction, or was it something more than that?

Ace looked nervously over at the robots, which just floated contentedly, rooted to their spot, daring the Loonatics to make the first move. _I dun like dis _thought Ace. He knew he needed to think of a plan.

Next to him, Tech was doing the same thing. The coyote noticed that a large hole in the side of the missile had been left by the explosion. That was his way in he decided. **"I only need a few seconds to get in Ace" **Tech observed as he shot a glance at the bunny before looking back at the large hole in the missile.

Ace followed Tech's eyes until he saw what the coyote was looking at, he subtly smiled as an idea came to him. He turned and looked at the team to state his plan of action. **"Okay gang dis is how we gunna do it…" **he began.

But before the bunny could utter another word he was cut off by Duck, who stormed in front of the Bunny, displaying a look of disbelief. **"You're not seriously considering taking those overgrown soda cans on are you?"** he shouted as he pointed to the robots. **"I'm too young to die! I've still got so much to do in my life! I still have to marry Misty Breeze!" **cried the mallard helplessly.

Lexi's patience snapped and she lost her temper. **"Can it Duck!" **she berated angrily, and gave Duck a brain blast to the hind quarters which caused the mallard to yelp. **"Carry on Ace." **Said the doe as she calmed back down giving Duck one final filthy look. The others all looked at Ace, awaiting him to continue, apart from Duck who was rubbing his feathers and scowling at Lexi.

Ace resumed with telling the others his idea. Ace's plan was that Slam and Duck would go first and act as a diversion to the robots while Tech sneaked into the missile to disarm it. Then Ace, Lexi and Blaze would move in and try and take out as many of the bots while they were still held up with trying to stop Slam and Duck. And then once the confusion had worn off, they would draw them down towards the asteroids where they would have more of a chance at beating the robots.

It was time to put this plan into action. **"Alright den. Slam, Duck, you foist boys."** stated Ace coolly.

Slam grinned enthusiastically and nodded, the big Tasmanian devil always relished a fight. Sometimes he even craved it more than he craved food! But that was pretty rare. He mumbled something inaudible which sounded like "Ready Ace."

Duck had started to protest about having to be the bait again, but after a sharp nudge and growl from Slam, and a look that could've melted the sun from Lexi, he reluctantly gave in. Slam eagerly jetted off towards the robots, which still floated idly, motionlessly waiting for them. **"I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I'm making." **Announced Duck sourly before jetting after Slam.

Ace watched them go for a few seconds before turning around to look at the others. Then he noticed Blaze, the tiger was breathing heavily and was looking down at his feet with a look of shame, no doubt because of what had happened. **"Dun worry Blaze, you couldn't help it." **Ace said reassuringly, he could sympathize with Blaze about the trauma that the tiger had experienced in the past, for he had faced similar things when he was young.

Blaze slowly raised his head and looked at Ace, his captivating golden eyes loaded with sorrow and guilt. **"Thanks chief." **Came his quiet reply, but he couldn't bring himself to smile at his leader, not after he had reacted the way he did.

Although Duck was quietly anxious, he was determined not to let the team down. **"Ready Slam old buddy?" **he asked loudly as he jetted alongside the Tasmanian devil, trying to banish his anxiety. Slam released a massive grin as he growled his agreement. **"Then let's rock!" **the mallard yelled.

Slam needed no further encouragement, his eyes turned purple as he span into a tornado and raced ahead. One of the bots suddenly reacted to Slams aggressive move by launching himself at the oncoming Tasmanian devil. Slam unleashed a roar as he and the robot collided. Slam came off best as the bot was sent spearing backwards.

Duck "quacked" into the action and appeared right in front of one of the bots, two eggs in his hands. **"How do you like your eggs sir?" **Duck asked sarcastically. The robot immediately swung at Duck only for his metal fist to strike nothing as the mallard teleported behind him. The bot turned around to face a grinning Duck who stared back with orange eyes. **"Im sorry was that scrambled or poached sir?" **taunted Duck with an evil grin. The bot swung a second time but Duck once again quacked to safety. **"Okay then here's your order, metal head!" **came Duck's voice again. The robot looked up and was greeted by the sight of Duck hurling the fiery eggs at its face. **"Hope you enjoy your meal!"**

The others watched as Slam and Duck engaged the robots. **"Dat's our cue!" **began Ace. **"Ready Tech?" **he asked as he glanced at the coyote.

Tech nodded. **"Born ready chief." **He stated confidently.

"**Ready guys?" **Ace inquired as he turned to look as Blaze and Lexi who nodded. Ace then spoke into his communicator. **"Rev, u ready te back us up if tings go south?" **

Their communicators came to life with Revs usually lightning quick voice. **"No-sweat-Ace-If-there's-any-hiccups-I'll-be-there-before-you-can-say-peanuts!-and-on-the-topic-of-peanuts-don't-you-just-love-peanuts?-cos-I-know-I-love-peanuts-and-boy-i-could-do-with-some-peanuts-right-now-and-actually-I-need-to-talk-to-Tech-about-installing-a-mini-fridge-in-the-ship-so-we-ca-" **but as usual Rev had to be interrupted before he launched into a full blown memo.

"**I'll take dat as a yes Rev." **stated Ace with a playful smile and a slight shake of the head, the others smiled at his reaction. **"Alright gang, lets jet!" **

While Ace, Lexi and Blaze all set off to join Duck and Slam, Tech began to make his way over to the missile, trying to cause as little a scene as possible, if one of the bots saw him, this already tricky mission would get a whole lot more difficult. After a short while, Ace, Lexi and Blaze arrived to join their teammates. There was a flash of orange as out of nowhere, Duck "quacked" in front of them. **"Bout time you got here!" **he complained, a bead of sweat running down the side of his head.

"**Keep your panties on Duck!" **joked Lexi with a laugh.

Ace looked over to the missile and saw that Tech had landed on the missile and was moving into position. **"Alrighty guys, let's get stuck!" **yelled Ace as his eyes turned yellow, they all leaped into action.

Over on the missile, Tech was making steady progress towards the large hole. The explosion had created burn marks and bits of debris embedded in the missiles metal plating Tech noted. He was crouched so as to limit the chance of him being seen, he was almost there.

Not far away, things were starting to heat up. As they had joined the action, Ace and Lexi had managed to destroy a bot by hitting it at the same time with their respective laser and brain blasts. But other than that, not much had happened.

Slam was toughly wrestling with one of the large bots, managing to hold his own despite the metal giant's size advantage. Duck was being pursued by two of the bots; the mallard simply "quacking" here and there keeping them distracted.

Ace and Lexi kept together and were having to fight off four of the enormous robots, they were just managing for now but they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. **"How long are we gunna just stand here and let them use us as a couple of punching bags Ace?" **inquired Lexi as she smoothly dodged one of the robot's clumsy swing.

Ace laser blasted one of the bots he was fighting causing it to fly backwards before delivering a powerful kick to the chest of the second one. He darted a quick glance over to the missile, Tech was almost at the opening now. _Cmon Tech _willed the bunny, recognizing that the robots were slowly starting to overpower them. But Ace had no more time to think as he was suddenly grabbed from behind by the bot that he had kicked. _Fer such big guys, dey move pretty quick _the leader of the Loonatics thought grimly, but then he noticed alarmingly that the bot that he had laser blasted had recovered and was pointing his arm cannon straight at the bunny. His eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, he started thrashing around trying to free himself but the bot was too strong. **"Cmon, not now!"** Ace yelled frustrated. _I can't die teday_ (today) he said to himself determinedly as he looked over at Lexi, his strong feelings for her flooding through his mind. _Not… teday…_

Lexi flipped backwards to avoid a hammering blow from the bot she was facing, she countered the robot with a brain blast that sent it crashing backwards. **"Thank you for attending Ass Kicking 101" **smirked Lexi. It was then that the doe looked over at Ace to see her leader in the iron grip of one of the bots.

Ace continued to try and resist the robot's hold but it was no use. The bunny then turned and looked straight at Lexi, a look of hopeless resignation in his sapphire eyes.

Lexi tore her gaze away from her leader long enough to notice one of the robots with its arm cannon pointed threateningly at Ace, poised to fire. **"Ace!" **she cried desperately. Without a moment's hesitation, she dashed his aid as the robot fired, the fiery ball of plasma darted towards the helpless Ace. Lexi finally got within range and smash kicked the bot holding Ace straight in the side of the head, sending it flying.

Ace just managed to dodge the plasma projectile by launching himself out of the way. **"Tanks Lex" **he said gratefully as he regained his composure. A second projectile came hurtling at Ace, but he again dodged it. The bunny glared at the robot that had almost killed him twice and then, gritting his teeth, he flew full pelt at his target. Ace dodged two more projectiles before drawing his Guardian Strike Sword. Another ball of plasma exploded out of the robots arm cannon and came searing at Ace, but this one would be the last. The leader of the loonatics effortlessly deflected the projectile with his sword, sending it flying back in the direction it came from. The robot was left seemingly dumbfounded by this sudden turn of the tides and remained frozen like a statue as its own projectile came crashing into its chest and exploded. The explosion had severely damaged the robot's metal armour leaving large holes and now a lot of the bots inner wires were dangling idly from these holes.

As he drew near, Ace drew his sword back over his shoulder. **"So long rust bucket." **The bunny uttered in an almost evil voice, and then with both hands he sliced downwards diagonally, cutting the disabled robot in half like a lemon. Two down, eight to go.

Of all the Loonatics, Blaze was struggling the most. He was still exhausted from stopping the missile, and even the adrenaline coursing through his body at that moment wasn't giving him enough to deal with the bots. He was just managing to dodge the attacks from the two robots that he was facing, but he couldn't keep it up much longer and eventually, his defences finally broke.

Blaze had decided that maybe if he went on the offensive he could get some ground back, but this was a bad decision. As he blocked a blow from one of the bots, he drew back his fist and thrust forward, but the slowness of his punch made it easy to dodge and before he had time to pull back his hand it was grabbed by the bot. Blaze then helplessly looked up at the two robots who stared back at him with their blood coloured electronic eyes. _Uhoh not good! _He reasoned desperately. The second bot then leaned forward and smashed his hard metal head into Blaze's. The dazed Loonatic slumped backwards from the impact of the head-butt and his vision went black.

"**Nice one Ace." **Commended Lexi as she joined her leader.

Ace turned and wryly smiled at his teammate, and secret crush. In that moment, as he had literally stared down the barrel of a gun, he had never been so scared. Not because he faced death, but because he faced the idea of never being able to tell Lexi how he felt. **"Tanks Lex." **He began with a modest voice as he sheathed his sword. **"And tanks again for de save back dere." **

Lexi blushed slightly but managed to smile. **"No problem skipper."**

Both of them looked over at the missile and saw Tech waiting not far from the object opening. **"Ye ready Tech?" **asked Ace as he spoke into his communicator.

"**I'm in position." **confirmed Tech, the communicator crackling slightly.

"**Okay Tech, just hang in dere a sec." **Ace told Tech. **"Loonatics, regroup!" **he commanded to the others. **"Let's go Lex." **

Ace and Lexi joined Duck and Slam; they all formed a circle with their backs to eachother. **"These guys are getting on my nerves." **complained Duck angrily, his eyes still blazing orange.

Slam looked around and noticed that one of them was missing. **"Wbhdh Bluvi?" **the Tasmanian devil asked, concerned.

"**Slam's right, Blaze isn't here!" **exclaimed Lexi as she scanned around for the tiger.

Ace also searched around for his friend. **"Dere he is." **The bunny stated as he locked onto Blaze, the tiger was floating aimlessly not far away and worryingly, he wasn't moving. But before any of them could go to the aid of their friend, the robots completely surrounded them and began closing in, strangling any chance of escape. **"Tech! Go now!" **Ace shouted into his com as the bots came closer, their pace increasing.

Tech responded immediately by abandoning his stealthy crouch and ran towards the hole; he dropped down as he reached it. It was completely dark inside the missile so Tech had to activate his night vision. The coyote looked around curiously; he was in some kind of empty storage compartment which he presumed was where the robots had been stored before they had broken loose. On the other side of the compartment was a large door. He walked over to it and gave it a sturdy push to see if it would open? It didn't even budge. It was then that Tech realised that it was locked from the other side. But for the genius coyote, this was but a small obstacle. Taking no time at all, Tech hacked the door's electronic lock with his small computer or his forearm by breaking the lock's code, the door beeped before sliding open. He was in.

Outside the missile, Blaze slowly opened his eyes. Despite taking a massive blow to the head, Blaze had somehow managed to remain fully conscious, even though he blacked out momentarily. He gazed around, bleary eyed and saw his teammates completely surrounded by the bots not far away. He was about to go to the aid of his friends but he decided to take one more look around to make sure that all the bots had been distracted, but to his dismay, they hadn't. Blaze frowned as he noticed one of the large robots heading for the hole in the missile. _Tech's in there! _realised Blaze. The tiger instantly forgot about the pain and exhaustion he was feeling and set off after the stray robot.

Ace quickly turned to look at Slam who was growling at the bots warningly. **"You're up Slam!" **Ace said, keeping an eye on the closing robots at the same time.

Slam nodded determinedly as his eyes turned purple.

Ace nudged a deeply concentrating Duck. **"Ya ready Duck?" **

Duck smirked at his leader **"As always, you can count on me Ace." **he boasted arrogantly.

The robots were evermore closing in, but they were in for a big surprise. Once Ace felt they had come close enough, he shouted the signal. **"Now!" **Both he and Lexi put a hand on each of Ducks shoulders, and all of them disappeared into thin air as Duck "quacked" them out of there. They all reappeared down on one of the large asteroids.

Slam uttered a terrifying growl as he spun himself into a massive tornado, sucking all seven of the robots into his purple vortex. Slam shot down to join the others on the asteroid, dragging the helpless robots in tow.

As the door opened, Tech was met by a long, narrow corridor which, as he looked down the end, appeared to end in a large open area. He took a deep breath, and then began cautiously making his way down the long corridor, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being pursued. Like the storage compartment before it, the corridor was completely dark, meaning that Tech had to keep his night vision activated. His heavy boots made a clanking sound as he walked which echoed up and down the corridor. After what seemed like a very long time, Tech finally reached the end of the corridor and came into the open area. With his night vision, he saw that on the wall to his left was a small energy cell with a switch next to it. Tech inquisitively wandered over to the cell and hesitated slightly before flipping the switch. The whole area instantly became bathed in bright light and Tech's eyes were instantly drawn to the middle of the area where his target awaited him.

Slam released his tornado as he arrived at the asteroid; he landed heavily next to Lexi who gave him a thumbs up. The robots, which were finally free from Slam's tornado crashed to the ground in a heap. This was the Loonatics' chance. **"Okay gang, dice em up!" **yelled Ace, gritting his teeth. All four of them charged at the robots, which were just getting back to their feet. But things were about to turn bad for Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam.

Back on the missile, Tech stared at a massive, rectangular shaped metal container, which was strapped down and bolted to the floor of the missile. The container was a gloomy dark grey colour and painted on the side of the it, in large red letters were the words: _Danger! Extremely Explosive!_ Tech began to circle the container. **"So that's what 100 tonnes of Axovorinium looks like." **he thought out loud in slight awe. The coyote went all the way round the container before he found what he was looking for: the detonator. The detonator was a book sized box which had been bolted onto the side of the container which held the Axovorinium. The detonator contained a small, remote controlled explosive device, which when detonated, would set off the Axovorinium, and all hell would break loose. If Tech could remove this detonator, he would effectively disarm the missile, making it safe to transport back to Acmetropolis.

Tech knelt down to begin his delicate work. Tech had to be very precise as one small mistake could end in disaster. First he used a strange looking tool from his case to crack open the front panel of the detonator box. He placed the panel on the ground next to him before looking inside the detonator, and as he had predicted, inside was a small explosive with a remote controlled detonator connected to it. Tech's original plan was to remove the remote detonator from the small explosive, but now that he had seen it with his own eyes, he was taking no chances. Instead he decided to remove the detonator box as a whole from off the Axovorinium container. He used his magnetism to unscrew the bolts that held the box onto the container and he took hold of the box with both of his hands as he unscrewed the last bolt. The coyote buckled slightly, surprised by the heaviness of the box before gently putting the box down on the metal floor next to him and breathed a sigh of relief. Tech was about to report his success to Ace, but then he suddenly heard the charging of a plasma arm cannon behind him. Tech instantly knew exactly what waited behind him, his heart sank…

**Oh boy oh boy! Things are heating up now people! So despite successfully disarming the missile, Tech's life now hangs in the balance! Is it the end of the road for our coyote hero? And will Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam be able to defeat the other robots? Or have the Loonatics bitten off more than they can chew this time? We will find out in the next chapter! :S**

**Soooo I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! But the action has only just started! Once again thanks to my reviewers for chapter 12 :) Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter and of the story so far, as well as anything else you would like to say :) Have a good day guys! Next chapter will be up ASAP :D **


	14. A Step Too Far?

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 14 – A Step Too Far?

**Hey everybody! IM ALIVE! Sorry for leaving everybody hanging, college has been stressful as HELL recently and I haven't found any time to do some writing :( Anyway, hope u dudes and dudettes are all doing good. Thanks to all of you for your patience and a SPECIAL thanks to haccat for the follow and to akajust1 for the favourite :) **

**Loonaticslover13**** – As usual thanks for your continued support, and you're welcome, you deserve all those reviews. :) aha well its only gunna get more intense im afraid! XD MUHAHAHAHA ;) glad you enjoyed the chapter and sorry for the wait. **

**Jacob Deitz**** – Thanks a bunch for your review, it's always good to hear everyone's ideas :) In answer to your review im not actually planning to introduce Kyra until the sequel of this story, so look forward to that! And thanks again for the idea :)**

**So when we last left off, it was not looking good for the loonatics. Tech was staring down the barrel of a gun… Literally, and Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam were heading into one of the toughest fights of their superhero lives. How is it all going to end for our beloved anthros? It's time to find out guys. Enjoy! **

Tech was frustrated at being caught, but at least he had managed to disarm the bomb. He slowly turned his head to face the robot; it simply stood there, glaring at the coyote with its crimson coloured eye, arm cannon outstretched, poised to fire. Tech stared back, not moving a muscle. He doubted that the bot was going to show him any mercy and for this reason, he just knelt there, waiting to die. But nothing happened… The robot stood motionless, as if in a trance. Tech glared at it with wonder at first but then with anger, he just wanted it to be over. **"Get on with it then you stupid piece of sh-" **but Tech was cut off by the whirring sound of the robots plasma cannon charging…

Back out in space the fight had begun, and it wasn't going well. **"Behind ya Slam!" **called Ace to the Tasmanian devil.

Slam tried to turn and face the bot that had sneaked up on him, but he was too late. A metal fist crunched into his face dealing a massive blow which caused him to stumble backwards. Although he was able to regain his balance, another strike came from the bot and once again, the Tasmanian devil had no time to react. The bots fist once again connected with Slams face, this time smashing him in the jaw, sending him flying upwards and crashing into a smaller asteroid. He groaned as pain jolted through his large body.

Ace's eyes burned yellow as he saw his friend and teammate crash into the asteroid. **"Lex!" **he called his fellow bunny.

Lexi was having troubles of her own. The robots just seemed to be getting better and better at fighting her. Her agility and martial art skills weren't as effective anymore. She was constantly dodging attacks from the two robots and her stamina was slowly decreasing. But she found herself just enough time to look over at Ace who had called her. **"Yeah Ace?" **she replied, having to shout over the loud sound of combat.

"**Double team!" **he shouted back to her before having to turn and block an attack from one of the bots.

Lexi only took a second to process Ace's seemingly strange words before instantly recognizing what he meant. **"Ok gimme a sec chief!" **she dodged yet another swing before powerfully punching one of the bots in the abdomen and brain blasting the other causing them to stumble slightly. But they recovered straight away and were about to continue attacking Lexi, but the doe leaped up and roundhouse kicked them both in the head, smashing them backwards. She then ran over to join her leader who had also managed to fight off the robots attacking him.

Ace pointed out to Lexi the bot that had punched Slam. They mutually nodded to eachother and then sprinted to attack it. The helpless robot had no time to react and tumbled to the ground as Ace dived and grabbed its legs and Lexi kicked it in the back with all her strength. **"Not so tough now are ya?" **said Ace icily. He drew his sword and was about to stab the bot in the chest when he was kicked in the abdomen by the robot with both its metallic feet. Ace groaned as he blasted backwards and crashed back to the ground.

Lexi gasped as she saw her secret love smash the ground. **"Ace!" **she shouted worriedly. But worry instantly turned to rage as the culprit robot jumped to attack her. Without a moment's hesitation, she launched herself at the bot swinging wild kicks and punches, yelling all the while. But annoyingly, no matter what attack she threw at it, the bot always blocked or dodged. She threw another punch at the bot but he bashed it away easily. It then tried to counter by hammer fisting Lexi, but she easily evaded it with a gracefully backflip. She landed and glared tauntingly at her enemy. But her anger was eased as she looked over the bots right shoulder to notice Ace, standing a short distance behind the bot with his sword in hand. He nodded determinedly at her and raised his sword above his head; Lexi knew exactly what to do. She shifted her gaze back to the robot who was preparing to run at her. **"Try and block THIS!" **and with that, she shot a brain blast which hit the robot in the middle of its chest.

The impact caused the bot to lose its balance and it stumbled backwards and before it could regain its footing, Ace's guardian strike sword slid through its mechanical body, straight through its main power cell. **"Meh… What's up doc?" **Ace taunted sarcastically, before kicking the doomed robot forwards and finishing it off with a powerful laser blast.

Lexi jogged over **"You okay chief?" **the doe asked, trying to sound calm despite the overwhelming concern she felt for her leader.

Ace looked back at her coolly **"I'm fine Lex." **He assured her with a warm smile, the smile that always made her heart melt and forget like anything else existed. **"But I tink im gunna wake up with a pretty big bruise in de mornin'." **He joked as he clutched at his stomach where the robot had kicked him.

Lexi beamed a glorious smile at his comment, but it soon faded and was replaced with a serious frown. **"What are we gunna do Ace? We're getting our tails handed to us by these guys." **

Ace seemed to have no answer. Slam finally joined them again, rubbing his sore backside tenderly after his acquaintance with the asteroid. And then out of nowhere, Duck quacked alongside them; wide-eyed exhaustion covered his beaked face. **"I don't care what we do!" **he began as the other three looked at him strangely. **"But can you PLEASE get these things off of me!" **he added and gestured at the six remaining robots which were in a line staring straight at them.

Tech stared blankly into nothing, awaiting his fate. He reflected back on his life, the things he had accomplished, the things he wanted to accomplish… _Guess I'll never know what it's like to be a doctor or a universal famous inventor or… What it's like to… to be in love… _The last one put a lump in Tech's throat. He'd always wanted to know what love felt like. Tech abandoned his thoughts as the robot prepared to fire. This was it… Or was it? Suddenly, the robots cannon became shrouded in a familiar blue aura, and slowly the bots arm cannon began to bend upwards. The robot tried to fight back against the strange control that had come over its arm but its resistance gained it nothing as the metallic arm continued to bend. It eventually stopped, aiming straight at the robots own head. There was a few seconds of tension before the silence was finally shattered by a bang. The arm cannon fired…

Tech slowly began to stand up as the robot fell face first to the ground. Well, it would've fallen face first if it had one, as the blast from its arm cannon had blown its head off. Tech finally looked upon the face of his rescuer. Blaze stood at the entrance to the room, battered, bruised and clearly exhausted, but very much alive, his orange eyes burning as brilliantly as ever. He smiled as he stumbled over to join his friend. **"Well that was a close one" **the tiger joked.

"**You can say that again" **Tech replied with a laugh. **"Thanks Blaze" **he added gratefully.

Blaze nodded in acknowledgement. **"Saving people's lives is part of our job right?" **he said happily. He looked down at the foot of the large Axovorinium container to see the detonator box placed carefully on the ground with various tools strewn everywhere. **"Right well if you've done all you need to do, can we get outta here, this thing's making me kinda nervous!" **Blaze admitted with a grin as he tapped the massive container with two of his knuckles.

Tech nodded, smiling slightly **"Agreed." **He responded as he began to gather his tools. Considering that he was already carrying his tool case (which was pretty darn heavy), Blaze offered to carry the detonator box and although Tech initially argued, Blaze simply waved him off and the coyote had no choice but to give in, even though secretly he was glad.

The two anthros were about just about to take their leave when suddenly a plasma shot whizzed through the air. Blaze instinctively dropped to the floor, just dodging the projectile. Tech however was not so fortunate. The coyote was sent flying as the ball of plasma slammed into his chest and exploded. **"Tech!" **cried a helpless Blaze as he watched his friend slump lifelessly to the ground after crashing heavily into one of the missiles control panels. He wasn't breathing…

The robot (which was headless) had now stood up and had shifted his aim to Blaze. The tiger's facial expression now changed from shock to rage as he stared into the robot's crimson eye. **"You just don't know when to give up do you…" **the angered Blaze said with a deep tone. He slowly got to his feet and briefly looked over his shoulder at Tech, who still lay completely still. _Please don't be dead Tech _Blaze thought worriedly, even though he hadn't known him long, Tech had become a good friend to Blaze.

_BANG!_

Blaze snapped his attention back to in front of him and had to think rapidly as yet another plasma projectile flew at him. The tiger frantically leaned to his right, but his efforts were in vain. Although he was able to avoid the plasma shot hitting him directly, the projectile scrapped his upper left arm before exploding. The impact caused him to stumble to the ground. Blaze looked at his arm and straight away saw that the plasma shot had left a large wound. Unknowing to Blaze, the explosion had disabled his communicator aswell.

The pain in Blaze's arm was excruciating, he reached across with his right hand and gripped his injured arm. He squeezed it, seeing if it would relieve some of the pain but it only made it worse. Blood trickled down his arm from the wound; his hand was drenched in it too.

Blazed could feel his vision blacking again. The pain was overcoming him, but he ignored it. As he gazed at his blood covered hand, something inside of Blaze snapped, the thing that always snapped when he was pushed too far. He glared with utter hate and anger at the bot and as his fiery eyes turned cobalt blue; he uttered a deep, sinister growl…

Meanwhile…

"**Tech?" **Ace spoke into his communicator. **"Tech come in…" **But there was no response. Ace tried hard to not fear the worst, but considering the situation the loonatics were in right now, it was difficult not to. Maybe Blaze would answer. **"Blaze… Blaze do ya read?" **nothing… Utter silence. **"Blaze come in… Please…" **he said the last word almost in resignation, were they dead?

Duck frantically tapped on the bunny's shoulder. **"Uh Ace! They're charging us!" **the mallard exclaimed.

Ace didn't even bother to look at the oncoming stampede; he just looked at the others who looked back with worried and expectant expressions. Ace Bunny, the usually fearless and courageous leader of the guardians of the universe, was afraid… Not for himself, but for his friends… His family. Tech and Blaze were nowhere to be seen or heard, they were probably dead and with the way things were going, Ace, Lexi, Duck, Rev and Slam were doomed to suffer the same fate.

Ace didn't fear death; he'd seen and experienced too much pain in his life to fear death. But he feared losing his friends, losing Lexi… The only girl he had ever loved. He couldn't face that… He WOULDN'T face that… He looked at his team again, a fiery determination ignited in him. His sapphire eyes gazed gently at each one of them individually, taking extra time with Lexi, who stared back, a hidden fright in her emerald eyes. Ace's lips curved into a smile and he uttered four simple, but powerful words: **"Dis aint over yet…"**

The others all nodded at their leader apprehensively. But they could feel Ace's drive, his determination, and that gave them hope. **"We're with ya chief." **assured an invigorated Lexi.

All of them turned to face the robots, which were now almost upon them. **"Loonatics, ATTACK!"**

Back inside the missile the tension was growing, and so was Blaze's anger. His intimidating growl was getting ever louder and deeper. He took one last glance at Tech. _This one's for you buddy _thought the enraged tiger, and as if a bolt of lightning had struck, Blaze took off and sprinted at the robot. In response the robot began to spam plasma shots at the loonatic, but he ducked and dodged every one of them and like a ravenous predator, he was finally on it. The robot was absolutely powerless as Blaze savaged at it with brutal punches and kicks as if possessed. Blaze's mind was a mess but as he took his rage out on the bot, his mind flashed with images from when he was a kid, when he beat up the bullies. After 2 minutes of blind anger, Blaze calmed down somewhat. He looked down on his crippled victim with a calm serenity which had replaced the mad fury that had consumed him before. The robot was now not only headless, but was battered, dented and broken. Suddenly the robot was shrouded in a dark blue aura. Blaze stared coldly at the metal heap that was before him and without even moving; he used his magnetism to completely crush the robot until all that was left was a football sized chunk of metal.

Blaze shut his eyes, putting his head in his hands, trying to block out the pain in his arm and also calm the torrent of emotions racing around his mind. He turned and looked mournfully over at Tech, who was still showing no signs of life…

**MAJOR cliff-hanger! Anyway that's all folks for this chapter! We will find out next chapter if Tech has made it or not :S so stay tuned!**

**So, I just wanted to say sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, I just wanted to get a chapter out so that you guys knew I wasn't dead :P Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, please review and let me know what you think! :) **

**Thanks guys :)**


	15. Light At The End Of The Tunnel

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 15 – Light At The End Of The Tunnel

**Hey there everyone! I would just like to thank everyone for their support so far, despite my slight laziness. I hope you continue to enjoy this story :)**

**Loonaticslover13: ****As usual thanks for your review. Yes he can regenerate, but did he this time? :P aha Im such a meanie! And thanks so much for your patience; it's really reassuring to know that you would be willing to wait 60 years for the next chapter ;) Haha thanks again :)**

**Lucy of Fairy Tail: ****Thanks so much for review, I will do my best ;) glad you're liking the chapters.**

**So in the last chapter, it appeared that Tech had sadly met his death, and his teammates were seemingly running to **_**theirs **_**aswell! :S Doesn't look good does it? But there is still a glimmer of hope for the loonatics, time to find out what it is…**

**Enjoy!**

Blazestumbled over to his fallen comrade. He was tired, weak and wounded, but he didn't care. Right now there was only one thing on his mind. The wounded tiger dropped to his knees as he reached Tech's side, the coyote still wasn't moving. Blaze's heart burned with anger at himself… _Why couldn't I save him? _He berated himself. _Why?_

Tech had a calm, peaceful and serene look on his furry, pointed face, a face that showed no signs of pain. It was as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. At least it had been quick and he hadn't felt anything. Right?

With the condition he was in though, you wouldn't have expected that the coyote had just been blasted in the chest by a plasma cannon. There was a thin line of blood that had trickled from his mouth down the side of his furry cheek but other than that, nothing… No injury, no giant hole in his chest that you would have expected from such a blast.

Blaze took this into account as he wearily studied Tech and then he remembered something. He remembered that not long after he had first become a loonatic, he had overheard Tech talking to Rev about a new project that he was working on in which he had used his own DNA codes to create a chemical that would initiate natural regeneration, which would be helpful not just for the loonatics, but for everyone else, humans and anthros alike. And then it dawned on him: _He can regenerate! _

Blaze's exhausted eyes shot open at this realization. Could he have regenerated? Was he still alive? He had to find out. The tiger nervously pressed two fingers on Tech's upper neck…

**Thump Thump…**

**Thump Thump… **

Blaze's lips curved into a smile, he had found what he was hoping for:

A pulse…

_Meanwhile…_

_Dis is hopeless _Ace thought to himself as he surveyed the carnage around him. How much longer could they go on like this? His teammates were tired… _He _was tired… They were fighting an uphill battle, one they were losing rapidly… But they had to fight on, they had no choice. But despite his feeling of hopelessness, Ace was determined not to give in, not yet. **"Loonatics regroup!" **the bunny shouted to his teammates.

They instantly obliged and it didn't take long before they had joined him. He nodded to Slam and Duck as they arrived and shut off their jetpacks, they both nodded back. Slam was bruise-covered and was holding a black eye, but the big Tasmanian devil still had a raging fire of determination burning in his good eye. Duck had fared slightly better than Slam in terms of injuries, but his constant teleporting had left him exhausted and severely lacking in energy, his fatigue was evident from his bloodshot eyes and the heavy bags that drooped down under them. But at the very least they were okay, reasoned Ace. But something was wrong, VERY wrong, someone was missing… Ace darted his sapphire blue eyes between Duck and Slam **"Wh… Where's Lex?" **the bunny queried, a massive surge of worry overcoming him. He frantically gazed around the asteroid until his eyes caught hold of her, and his heart jumped up into his mouth.

Lexi had tripped up on a protruding rock and lost her footing as she had tried to evade the never ending swipes of the robots. She landed awkwardly on her back and felt a sharp pain shoot up her spine. She was about to try and get up but then a threatening shadow loomed over her.

Ace watched with horror as the robot raised its metallic fist to strike the female bunny. **"Lexi!" **He shouted desperately as he began to run to the aid of the female bunny.

Lexi shot a fear filled glance at her leader and secret love, who was running as fast as his tired body would allow him. Seeing him show such determination to save her made her love him even more, if that was possible. She smiled weakly at him before closing her eyes, waiting for the blow.

The robot's fist slammed down, Ace's heart jumped again at this sight. There was no stopping the bot now... But, there was one thing Ace could do, and without giving it a second thought, the brave bunny jumped in front of Lexi, shielding her body with his own just in time as the robot's fist smashed into him. Ace felt the bone in his shoulder crunch and he uttered a short strangled gasp as an immense pain shot up his arm before he crashed to the ground, landing painfully on his crippled shoulder.

Lexi had witnessed it all, _NOBODY gets away with hurting Ace _she thought to herself angrily. All in one swift action, she jumped up and tackled the large robot to the ground and then brutally smashed her fist through its metal-plated chest like a rock through paper and ripped out its main power cell, shutting the robot down. **(Lesson to be learned here is to NEVER piss off Lexi) ;)**

Lexi then immediately darted to Ace's side, joining Duck and Slam who were already kneeled down next to him. She gently cupped her hand round the back of the male bunny's head, supporting it. **"What did you do that for huh?" **she asked her leader in a worry laden voice, gazing into his sapphire eyes caringly.

Ace looked at her and flashed her the cheeky smirk that she loved so much about him. **"Te save yer tail, dat's why." **He stated, wincing as another sharp pain shot up his arm.

All three of them smiled at their leaders stubbornness. But the smiles were short lived as they looked up to see that the remaining bots had completely surrounded them, leaving no escape.

The Loonatics had given absolutely everything they had left, but they had been beaten… Despite destroying another one of the formidable robots leaving only 5 left, it was not enough.

Like all mechanical devices, these robots didn't feel pain, when they were knocked down they simply got back up as they'd been blown over by a mere gust of wind. They were programmed to kill and destroy and with the way they had managed to not only contend with but actually _beat _seven of the universe's most skilled fighters, it was easy to see that this was their purpose.

The loonatics on the other hand _did _feel pain. Despite their shield-like suits and their superhuman abilities they were still just anthros, they were _mortal_. And that imperfection had proven to be their downfall.

It was over…

Back on the missile, Blaze leaned over Tech's chest to listen to his heartbeat. It wasn't strong, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered right now. Blaze needed to get him back to the others as soon as he could. _How am I gunna move him with this arm though? _He reasoned. His arm was in bad shape, it was weak and fresh blood was still dripping off his fingertips as it dribbled down his arm from the large wound just below his shoulder. But despite his condition, there was no way he was leaving Tech.

Fighting back the extreme discomfort, Blaze slid his good arm under Tech's back and slowly lifted the coyote up and then slung him over his shoulder. The tiger's knees buckled slightly under Tech's weight and his vision went dark for a few seconds before returning to normal as he adjusted. Normally, lifting up Tech would have been relatively easy for Blaze, but because of his arm and the exhaustion from the fighting he had done, it was like trying to lift a 3 tonne truck!

_Man I hope the others are ok… _Blaze hoped as he thought about his friends. These robots were strong, and if he had had such a tough time with one of them, how had the others fared against almost ten of them?!

"**Bout time we got outta here hey Tech?" **Blaze joked to the unconscious coyote. The tiger blasted his way out of the missile with a gyro ball, which meant using even more of his already shrunken energy. He walked to the opening he had made and gazed out into space, after briefly taking in the stunning view, which he was _still_ coming to terms with, he caught sight of the asteroid that his friends were on. And it didn't take super vision like Ace's to see that they were in trouble…

_Meanwhile…_

The four friends all huddled around eachother helplessly. A new feeling had come over Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam. A sinking feeling of complete and utter hopelessness, the realisation that they were about to die, and there was nothing that could stop that truth from happening. No saviour, no hope… Did they like that truth? Of course not… But what other truth was there?

And as the robots all raised their cannons, and he realised that his time had come, Ace looked up at Lexi -who was kneeling over him protectively- for one last time, and she looked back at him through her stunning emerald eyes. And in that moment -one that neither of them would ever forget- they both saw in each other's eyes for the first time a hint that each of them felt something a lot more than friendship for the other. It was a sensation that neither of them expected, but one that they had both been hoping would happen for a long time…

_Does he/she like me? _Both Ace and Lexi simultaneously. Well it was now or never if they wanted to find out, because they wouldn't get another chance. They both opened their mouths, trying to form the words that they had wanted to say to eachother for so long, but they just couldn't say it…

Lexi felt tears forming on the brim of her eyes and quickly looked away, embarrassed and heartbroken. _I… I can't tell him… _she cried to herself, and with that, the moment was gone…

Ace felt his heart shatter as he saw Lexi tear her gaze away. _Well… Dat's dat…_ Ace then looked up at Slam and Duck and the three of them exchanged weak, half-hearted smiles. Then there was complete silence as the four of them waited for their death.

Bet then thankfully, the silence was abruptly broken as a familiar voice resounded on the Loonatics' communicators: **"Hey-guys! Sorry-that-im-a-little-late-to–the-party!" **shouted Rev in a jubilant voice.

Out of nowhere, the Loonatics' ship –with Rev at the helm- appeared. The four of them opened their eyes and were completely lost for words at what they saw, and then with a flash of the ships powerful cannons, the robots were obliterated.

Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam all glanced around, realizing that it was finally over. They thought that had been it, that was the moment, the final countdown… **(No pun intended) :P**. They all exchanged wry smiles before helping Ace onto his feet as Rev –who had landed the ship on the asteroid- came over to greet his teammates. **"Hey-Gu-" **began the roadrunner before he was cut off by a certain very angry Duck.

"**WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN FEATHERBRAIN?!" **raged Duck as he stomped up to Rev. **"We've been getting our faces kicked in out here and you just **_**conveniently **_**decide to get off your lazy butt to come and help us just as we're about to get our fried?!" **the angry mallard continued, wagging his finger at his fellow avian.

Rev looked sheepishly at them all, guilt smothering his face. **"Sorry-guys-its-just-some-nuts-I-had-earlier-didn't-agree-with-me-at-all-so-Ive-bin-having-a-date-with-the-toilet-for-the-last-hour-if-you-know-what-I-mean-and-on-the-subject-of-nuts-I-think-we-really-need-to-change-the-nuts-we-get-becau-" **said Rev speedily before being cut off _again_.

"**Nuts?! NUTS?!" **bellowed Duck, who was too angry to say anything else.

"**It's cool Rev" **smirked Lexi, trying to set the roadrunner's mind at ease** "thanks for saving us." **She thanked.

Rev nodded happily, glad that his team was still with him, but he frowned as he noticed a battered Ace being supported by Slam **"You-okay-Ace?" **He asked his leader worriedly.

"**Nuffin dat won't heal Rev, tanks." **replied Ace gratefully with a tired voice. **"Wh…" **He began before another burst of pain stung his shoulder. **"Where are… Tech and Blaze? Have ya heard from dem Rev?" **

Rev shook his head. **"Wha… Has-something-happened-to-them?" **he stuttered in a shocked voice. Rev's mind flooded with worry for his teammates, especially Tech. They were best friends after all.

But none of them had the answer to Rev's question. There was complete silence as none of them dared say anything further. Were they dead? Was the question on all of their minds. But then… **"Bejebi Hegiza!" **mumbled Slam excitedly, exuberantly pointing his finger at a figure rapidly approaching them on a jetpack. They all instantly knew who it was.

Blaze uttered a silent sigh of relief to himself as he caught sight of his friends, seeing that they were all there and relatively ok. He was still carrying Tech on his shoulder and tightened his grip on the coyote as he came to land, he touched down on the asteroid about 10 metres from his friends and turned his jetpack off. They all jogged over to him (apart from Ace), smiles spread on their faces, glad to see the tiger. But their happy expressions vanished the instant they realised what Blaze was carrying on his shoulder.

Blaze gently lowered Tech to the rocky ground and laid him flat on his back as the others arrived to join him. He respectfully backed away to allow the others to gather around Tech. Surprisingly, Duck was the only one to come up to Blaze. **"Good to see that you're ok…" **the mallard comforted with a tired smile, lightly clapping the tiger's arm (his good arm thankfully) in a friendly gesture. The usually cocky and brash Duck had been suddenly become replaced with a solemn, quiet and… _caring _Duck.

He must have hit his head or something…

Blaze, who was pleasantly surprised by Duck's sudden display of warmth simply nodded with a quick smile of his own. His arm was still bleeding, but it wasn't as painful anymore, and he could actually think about other things now besides the pain.

Rev, who had been the first to reach Tech's side gazed up at Blaze with a grievous expression. **"Is-he…"**

"**No Rev he's still alive, but his pulse is really weak." **confirmed Blaze as he walked back over to join his team **"He needs help... Fast."**

"**Blaze… Are you okay? You don't look so good" **observed a concerned Lexi. Due to the seriousness of Tech's condition, nobody had really noticed until then that Blaze was in pretty bad shape too.

As well as his bruises and cuts, Blaze had lost a lot of blood from the wound in his arm and he now looked significantly pale. But he was convinced that he was ok. **"Im fine Lexi, honestly… Its Tech you should be worried about." **The tiger answered dismissively.

Ace, who had perked up slightly took command. **"Blaze is right, we need te get Tech back te Acmetropolis fast. Rev, start up de ship. Duck, contact Zadavia and tell her we intercepted de missile and inform her on de situation wid Tech. Lex, Slam, take Tech to de medical bay. Blaze…" **began the bunny as he turned to face the tiger, but…

Blaze had collapsed to the floor…

**Another cliff-hanger! Damn im evil ;)**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and thanks again for being patient. Will try to get the next one up asap! Please leave your comments down in the review box, I love seeing all your awesome reviews! :D**

**Btw, thumbs up to Loonaticslover13 for remembering that Tech can regenerate! I was hoping nobody would remember so that they could have that epic "oh yeah, he can regenerate" moment XD **

**Oh well, nice one ;)**

**So next chapter we will find out if Blaze is okay and if Tech pulls through!**

**Thanks again dudes :) **


	16. Recovery

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 16 – Recovery

**Hey guys, chapter 16 is here! So before going any further I would just like to mention that this story hit 50 reviews last chapter which is AMAZING! A massive thanks to everyone for their reviews, favourites, follows etc. You have made writing this story such a fulfilling experience for me :)**

**Loonaticslover13 – ****You have been my most consistent reviewer which is pretty unbelievable considering you're my favourite writer for loonatics stories, so thanks so much :) I knew you would like the Acexi, there will be plenty more of it in the coming chapters! Thanks again for everything :)**

**Hani tamersten –**** Aww thank you so much :) im really glad you're enjoying this story and don't worry, I plan to see this story through to its thrilling conclusion! :) And thanks! It's nice to know that I have SOME writing talent ;)**

**So when we left off, the loonatics had finally managed to complete their mission, but in doing so they had paid dearly… Ace had suffered a heavy injury to his shoulder, Blaze had collapsed from exhaustion and injury, and Tech was fighting for his life… Will everything be ok? Time to see…**

**Enjoy the chapter guys :)**

From the moment that Ace had laid eyes on Blaze's battered, unconscious body slumped on the ground, it had been panic stations for the Loonatics. They had returned to Acmetropolis as quickly as they could and went had flown straight to the city's main hospital, the sight of the Loonatics' ship landing in front of the main entrance of the hospital as if it were a regular car park left onlookers more than slightly shocked. But the situation was now desperate. Tech's health being in crisis was one thing, but a quick scan of Blaze back on the ship after he had fainted had revealed that he had lost a life-threatening amount of blood.

The Loonatics had all felt a sickening feeling as they saw their two friends disappear through the doors leading to the intensive care unit, one after the other with numerous doctors all around them. They could do no more for their friends… At least their lives were in capable hands now right?

All five of them waited in the hospital for what seemed like a lifetime, throughout which they had gotten no news on the condition of their friends.

Zadavia had met them at the hospital as they had arrived and had waited with them the whole time before she realised that the Loonatics had been through hell and were likely exhausted. She urged them to go back to HQ and get some well-earned rest. They had all protested to their boss, refusing to leave their friends but Zadavia had simply smiled sympathetically and urged them again. Eventually they had given in and although they desperately wanted to wait for news on Tech and Blaze, they had left, realising that it was for the best that they get some rest. At least Zadavia was there, and she had reassured the Loonatics that she would let them know if there was any news.

Content that Zadavia was there, the five anthros returned to HQ. Beaten, tired and shocked at what consequences the mission had left, they all went straight to bed, without saying a single word to eachother.

Initially, they all struggled to get off to sleep. How could they sleep? Two of their friends were in that hospital fighting for their lives, and there was nothing they could do to help them…

Eventually, their tiredness had overcome them and they sank into the blackness of sleep. But one of the Loonatics was still wide awake…

Ace shuffled about on his bed, trying to find a position that wouldn't be uncomfortable with his injured shoulder –which was now in a strap after a doctor at the hospital had painfully reset the broken bone. But his shoulder was the last thing on the bunny's mind. Images of Tech and Blaze kept flooding through his head. _It's all my fault _he said to himself_._ These words repeated themselves to Ace again and again; he just couldn't put them out of his mind.

Eventually, he decided it was useless trying to sleep. He needed some fresh air… He slowly got up -silently grimacing as the various aches and pains all over his body stabbed at him- and slipped on some trousers and his slippers before making his way to the large balcony outside the main room. He casually leaned on the railing with his good arm, gazing down at the city of Acmetropolis. It was a clear night so the stars were visible, glowing like little fireflies.

As he continued to gaze out, Ace's eyes became rooted on the hospital where Blaze and Tech were and his guilt came flooding back. Where they even still alive? Ace couldn't even bear the thought of losing his friends. Tech was his left hand man and through his ingenious inventions and clever ideas, he was possibly the biggest reason why the Loonatics had become such a formidable force and had developed such a good reputation. But Ace didn't see him as a genius inventor, he saw him for the person he truly was deep inside and over the years, he had come to see the coyote as his brother, something he had never had growing up. If he died, Ace would hate himself forever for it.

Even Blaze –whom Ace had known for hardly any time at all- had become a close friend of his. In so many ways, the tiger was so similar to him. His physique, his personality, his likes and dislikes and especially his past… Despite his insecurities and rough start to life, Blaze was a pillar of courage and determination and was a great anthro. He was like a bright burning candle, with so much promise. Ace would never forgive himself if he had snuffled that candle out.

A cool breeze blew by and Ace closed his eyes as the wind ruffled his grey fur. _Please let dem be okay…_

"**Hey stranger." **came a soft familiar voice from behind Ace. He turned around to see Lexi leaning up against the open balcony window, her green eyes gazing captivatingly at him. Even in her pyjamas she was still stunningly beautiful.

Ace gave her a tired but warm smile. "**Hey Lex, sorry did I wake ya?" **he asked slightly concerned.

She lightly shaked her head, her loose ears flapping around behind her **"No don't worry I was already awake, I just heard you get up and thought I'd see if you're okay." **She assured with a comforting smile.

Ace nodded **"I couldn't sleep." **He responded tiredly before turning back to face the city. His guilty feelings returned.

Lexi looked sympathetically at her leader as she walked and joined him at the balcony. She leaned forward on the metal railing and looked down at the city below. Nothing was said between the two bunnies for about a minute, but then finally Lexi looked up seriously at Ace. **"It's not your fault Ace" **she began with a gentle tone **"what happened to Tech and Blaze…"**

Ace shifted his gaze and looked down at Lexi disbelievingly. _How did she know!? _He asked himself, flabbergasted. It was like she had looked right into his heart and seen he was hurting. His surprised expression eventually changed and was replaced by one of sadness and guilt; he looked back out at the city. **"I… I shouldn't have let Tech go alone Lex… and I… I shoulda kept an eye on Blaze… it was his first mission…" **he stuttered angrily, he could feel his eyes moistening but quickly rubbed them. He didn't want to cry in front of Lexi… Suddenly he felt a soft hand cup around his cheek.

Lexi gently turned his face towards her, her emerald eyes locked with his sapphire ones. **"It **_**wasn't **_**your fault Ace" **she started firmly but delicately at the same time. **"You did your best, there was no way you could've known how strong those robots were, there was nothing you could've done okay…" **she added assuredly, her thumb rubbing his soft cheek tenderly.

She was right… And Ace knew it and although he still felt guilty, his best friend's comforting words had made him feel a lot better. **"Tanks Lex… Dat means a lot…" **

She grinned at him gladly, as long as Ace was happy, she was happy. Caught up in the moment, she suddenly reached out and hugged her leader, carefully avoiding his shoulder.

Ace for a moment was slightly taken aback by the doe's sudden expression of warmth, but then he embraced her back, feeling her small, warm body wrapped around his, he couldn't believe this was happening! The girl he loved with all his heart, _hugging _him!

This was the first time they had hugged since that time when Lexi thought Ace had been killed in space. But unlike last time when the others were there, making it feel awkward and when Lexi didn't want to give away her feelings, this time it was just the two of them and this time, their feelings for eachother were much stronger. There was no awkwardness, no restriction, Lexi felt… _safe _in his arms. Her heart was thumping wildly, twice as fast as usual but yet she felt so at peace, like she could stay there forever.

But it was at this moment that she realised that her cheek was resting on his bare furry chest, and then it dawned on her: _Oh my god… HE'S TOPLESS! _She blushed furiously and her heart started beating even faster than before. _Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD! _She screamed to herself, freaking out.

Ace could now feel her heart beating through her tank top, and it was going unbelievably fast! He pulled away and looked down at her concerned. **"You okay Lex?"**

She nodded rapidly, looking down at the floor and trying to pull her fringe over her cherry coloured face. **"Fine! I… Im fine!" **she stuttered nervously before turning away from him.

Ace gave the doe a weird look, confused by her sudden change of attitude. **"You sure?" **he asked her.

All that he got from Lexi in reply was a rapid nod, her face still turned away.

Ace still looked at his friend bemusedly but decided to let it go as a wave of tiredness suddenly swept over him. **"Anyway…" **the bunny began before letting out a big yawn. **"I tink im gunna try get some sleep again." **He continued before beginning to walk towards the window. **"Tanks again for de talk Lex." **He added as he turned back to look at her from the window. **"I owe ye one." **

Lexi looked up at her leader; a shadow hid her face now so she was able to look at him without him seeing the rosy colour spread across her cheeks. **"It's ok chief… Night." **She smiled before he turned and disappeared into the main room leaving her alone on the balcony.

She breathed a massive sigh as she slowly wandered back over to the edge of the balcony and looked out. She couldn't believe what just happened. _Oh my god… _she said to herself once again as she bit her lip in excitement. First there was that moment up on the asteroid and now this! Was all this really happening? Was her wish finally coming true? Did Ace… _like_ her? She smiled to herself one last time as she remembered the feeling she had felt being in Ace's arms. The warmth, the safety, the… _love…_ And as that last word raced around her mind, she went to bed content, and slept like a baby for the rest of the night.

The next morning, they were all woken up by the sound of Rev banging and shouting energetically on their doors telling them to get up quickly. All of them realised that Rev's urgency meant it was something important, so they all got up without a word of protest, except for Duck who hurled a torrent of abuse at Rev for waking him, using language that would make a statue cringe. But the mallard finally begrudgingly got up, thanks to the steely words of an annoyed Lexi.

Eventually they all met in the main room and were surprised to see Zadavia standing there waiting for them.

"**Good morning Loonatics" **she greeted with a warm smile as they all approached.

They all replied with various greetings, sleep still lingering in the corners of their eyes. Zadavia's seemingly jolly mood sparked hope in the Loonatics that she had some good news. None of them spoke for a moment as they all stared anxiously at their boss expectantly. **"So-umm… Have-you-got-any-news-on-Tech-and-Blaze-boss?" **spoke up Rev, taking a step closer to the Frelengian queen.

Zadavia smiled at the obviously worried roadrunner. **"As a matter of fact, yes Rev I do have news." **She began. They all silently crossed their fingers. **"Thankfully, the doctors were able to stabilise both Tech and Blaze overnight." **This news was music to the Loonatics' ears and they looked at eachother gladly, and the good news kept on coming **"In fact the doctors think that Blaze is out of the woods now, they've moved him to the recovery unit." **Zadavia added.

"**Bliiiije!" **exclaimed an excited Slam which was met by laughs from everyone else.

But the laughter ceased when they realised that Zadavia had withheld a bit of information from them concerning another one of their friends. The question on all of their minds was eventually asked by Lexi. **"What about Tech Zadavia?"**

Zadavia's expression changed to a much more serious one, and their hearts sank. **"The doctors were able to stabilise his condition, but he's still in intensive care. They're keeping a close eye on him." **

The mood went dull suddenly as this latest admission from Zadavia was processed. The Loonatics had all had health scares from missions before, but nothing like this. Nothing like the condition that Tech was in… He and Blaze had almost died… And Tech was still in danger... But at least Blaze was going to be okay. **"Are we allowed to go and see Blaze?" **asked Lexi hopefully, changing the subject.

Zadavia said nothing but simply nodded to them as a smile curved her thin lips. There were smiles all around, and even Duck couldn't stop himself from cracking a slight grin.

_Six days later…_

"**Oh-hey-morning-Blaze!" **Called a cheery Rev as Blaze walked into the kitchen.

"**Hey Rev." **Blaze smiled wearily at his teammate as he poured a bowl of his newly found favourite cereal: "Choco Asteroids" **(I know, I know, bad name)**. When living on the streets, Blaze had often gone hungry in the morning. But since joining the Loonatics and discovering the wonder of cereal, he couldn't start a day without a bowl of "Choco Asteroids" (seriously, it was like his life force), but he had to make sure that he hid the cereal well due to a certain Tasmanian Devil. He sat down at the large table; it was good to be back.

It was 5 days ago that morning that Blaze had woken up from his coma. It hadn't been a pleasant experience… When he first opened his eyes he had blacked out in confusion and lost control, just like he had during the missile mission in space. Even in his weakened state, it had taken 5 doctors to keep him pinned down. Eventually –with the help of some anaesthetic- he had calmed down and was back to himself. The tiger still didn't know why this blacking out kept happening to him.

Blaze's recovery had been speedy though and yesterday he had been discharged and could go home. The welcome he had got when he had returned to HQ was an experience Blaze would never forget. The looks on his teammate's faces, the genuine joy that they had shown at seeing that he was home had struck a chord in the tiger's heart. The only thing that would've made that moment any sweeter was if Tech was there to share it…

Thankfully, Tech was finally out of intensive care, but he was still in a deep coma and the doctors were still unsure if he would be the same if he woke up, or if he would wake up at all…

That possibility had cast a cloud over the loonatics mood. Although in themselves they were all pretty much back to normal, the coyote was always there at the back of their minds. Blaze was still bombarded with flashbacks of the sight of Tech being blasted backwards as the ball of plasma hit him…

"**How'd-you-sleep?" **called Rev's voice as those images flashed through Blaze's mind again.

Blaze snapped back to the present. **"Uh… Yeah ok thanks… You?" **he replied, still half in a trance.

"**Weeeeell-I'm-not-usually-one-to-complain-but-I-think-I-had-a-bit-too-much-alcohol-last-night-I-mean-I-thought-you-don't-get-a-hang-over-until-the-next-morning-but-mine-seemed-to-hit-me-the-second-my-head-hit-the-pillow-and-when-it-hit-me-it-hit-like-a-blooming-spaceship-and-then…" **Rambled Rev –he talked about having a headache, well now he was starting to give Blaze a one!- but thankfully the roadrunner was cut off before he went into a full autobiography.

"**So in other words Rev, no you didn't sleep well…" **came the voice of Lexi as she and Slam walked into the kitchen and sat down either side of Blaze, exchanging _good morning_'s with him.

"**How was it being back in your own bed?" **Lexi questioned the tiger with a sly grin.

Blaze let out a light-hearted chuckle. **"Better than being in a hospital bed that's sure!" **

"**Too right!" **smiled Lexi warmly as she went and got her breakfast.

Blaze had been warned by the guys about the rock-hard mattresses that were used on the hospital beds. And now he'd experienced it, the infamous bed covering had reminded him of the hard floors he had to sleep on when living on the streets. And although the feeling of waking up feeling like your back had been rubbed with sand paper had become normal to Blaze, he'd still pick his comfy king sized bed any day of the week!

"**Wehis Duck?" **Asked Slam, wondering where the mallard was although the Tasmanian devil pretty much already knew the answer.

"**Still in bed I guess Slam, he spends most of his life there after all." **Joked Blaze as he grinned at his large friend.

"**Yeah and the rest of the time he's either annoying the hell outta all of us or looking in the mirror!" **Spat Lexi as she sat back down with her breakfast. Food spilled out of the three boys' mouths as they struggled to hold back their laughter at Lexi's dig at Duck.

Eventually the laughter died down and they carried on with their breakfast and with talking about last night's drink-fuelled fun. **"And-when-Ace-tried-to-run-up-the-wall-and-do-a-backflip-and-ran-straight-into-it! Man-I've-never-seen-him-so-wasted!" **remembered Rev laughing all the while, the others all joining him.

It was then that Lexi realised that their leader wasn't around. **"Hey where is Ace?" **the doe asked as she looked up at the wall clock which said that the time was 9:43. **"He should be up by now." **

"**He left early this morning." **Answered Blaze as he gulped down the last mouthful of his cereal. **"Zadavia wanted to talk to him I think…" **

This was odd, usually if Zadavia had something to say she would say it to all of them. But the fact that she had asked Ace to come and see her alone was puzzling. Puzzling and worrying…

"**Jidhe hyabu Tech?" **questioned an obviously worried Slam.

"**I don't know big guy, I guess we'll find out when Ace gets back…" **replied Lexi, who had taken on a serious demeanour.

There was complete silence in the kitchen as the four of them contemplated what kind of news Zadavia had if she had only wanted to tell Ace.

Suddenly a drowsy Duck walked in, yawning and clearly hung over. Then he caught sight of the others, serious looks spread on their faces. **"Ok… What did I miss?"**

-o-

Ace pulled off his helmet as his bike came to a stop outside a large, secretive looking building. The bunny flexed his still injured arm –which was no longer supported by a sling but still very weak- and dismantled the bike and then began making his way towards the building. This particular building was where the AUOU (Analysis of Unidentified Objects Unit) was based. Unbeknown to the general public was that this was where the missile that the Loonatics had stopped was being studied and analysed.

Ace wasn't sure exactly why Zadavia had asked him to meet her here, but he reasoned that it must have been to do with the missile. To get into the top secret building, Ace had to go through a lengthy protocol security check which had left him huffing as he wasn't the most patient anthro in the world. But he was finally let through and was ushered by a man in an expensive looking black suit into the giant hangar were the missile was being kept.

The missile itself was in the process of being completely dismantled for a proper analysis, the outer skin of metal had been ripped away, the Axovorinium had been removed and the various electrical components were now being carefully extracted to be studied.

Ace found Zadavia on the other side of the hangar, overseeing the workers take apart the lethal rocket. He nodded to her as she caught sight of him and she returned a quick smile.

"**Thank you for getting up so early to come and meet me Ace, especially considering last night." **She greeted with a sly grin and raised eyebrow.

Ace smiled, embarrassed. He didn't remember much of the night before, due to the fact that he'd had a few drinks, but he had probably made himself look like an idiot quite a few times. **"Don't mention it boss." **He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

With the formalities over, Zadavia nodded to the well-dressed man that had shown Ace in, he turned and left the two of them alone. **"Please follow me Ace." **Asked Zadavia as she turned around and opened a door leading into a pitch black room.

Ace promptly followed her into the dark room which, even with his brilliant eyesight, Ace couldn't make out a thing. The room finally brightened as Zadavia turned on the lights. It was some kind of conference room from what Ace could make out. It was rectangular in shape and very plain; there were no windows and no furniture except for around a dozen chairs surrounding a hologram table which looked very similar to the one back at the Loonatics' HQ.

They both walked over to the table and sat down directly opposite to eachother. The chairs were surprisingly comfortable noted Ace, but now it was down to business…

"**Well as you know Ace, the AUOU has been dismantling and studying the missile for the past week or so now." **Zadavia began as Ace sat and listened intently. **"And in the last couple of days they have been able to get right into the missile's control system, they were finally able to abstract its main computer." **She continued.

This was good progress. Now that the AUOU had been able to take out the missile's main computer they would be able to obtain a range of information such as the capabilities of the missile, the technology that it contained and controlled it, and most importantly: _where _it was launched from…

Zadavia carried on updating Ace. **"Yesterday, the most senior and skilled hackers on the planet were brought in to break the computer's firewall and thankfully they were able to do so. All of last night, analysts were going through the data in the computer and they were finally able to establish where the missile came from…" **

Ace leaned forward in his seat; he already knew what was coming next.

Zadavia pressed a couple of buttons on the holographic table's console in front of her and a galactic map sprung up from the table.

Ace looked over at his boss confused. **"Eh… Aint dis de part where ye show a picture of some unhoid (unheard) of planet Zadavia?" **the bunny asked.

"**I would show you one if I could Ace, but according to Acmetropolis' galactic archives, the planet the missile was launched from doesn't exist!" **answered Zadavia as she gazed over at the puzzled Loonatic.

Now Ace was really confused. **"How is dat possible!?"** Hyperspace satellites had mapped the entire known universe at least 3 times over the last couple of hundred years. Every galaxy, solar system and planet had been found and documented. It was nearly impossible that they could have missed one!

Zadavia shrugged helplessly at Ace's question. **"I really don't know Ace, it's very mysterious… But there must be a reason for it." **She answered. **"Although the computer hasn't given us any data on the planet itself, it has given us coordinates. And this is where you and the others come in." **The update had now turned into a mission briefing. **"Not only do we need to find out where and why the missile was launched, but also how this planet has remained anonymous for so long."**

Ace smiled coolly, he always loved mission briefings. And this one was starting to sound like a good one. **"Ye can count on us boss." **assured Ace confidently.

Zadavia now stood up from her seat and walked around the table over to Ace. "**You and the others need to be very careful Ace, some of the technology discovered from that missile is very advanced and not familiar to us at all, whatever you're going up against is clearly very intelligent." **warned the wise Frelengian.

Ace nodded seriously as he stood up, grimacing as he had to put a bit of pressure on his bad arm. **"Have we ever let ye down Zadavia?" **he joked playfully with a cocky smile.

Zadavia smiled radiantly at the bunny. **"No you haven't." **she agreed as she shook Ace's hand (his good one). **"You all have one day to rest up and get ready." **She said, steering the conversation back on the serious path. **"Good luck Ace."**

Ace smiled at his boss again. **"Tanks boss." **And with that, he turned and headed towards the rooms exit. He had opened the door and was just about to leave when he was stopped in his tracks.

"**And one more thing Ace…" **began Zadavia, and Ace turned back to face her. **"Don't forget that you're a man down…" **

These words struck a sudden realisation in Ace: _They were going to have to take on this mission… Without Tech…_

Ace gave his boss a final nod of thanks before turning and leaving the room…

**Sooo there we go guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and once again sorry for it taking so long. But now that I've got 2 weeks off college for Easter I'll have some more free time :)**

**So next chapter the Loonatics will begin the epic mission that Zadavia has given them and, trust me when I say this, it's going to be one of their most dangerous, challenging and friendship-straining missions yet!**

**So stay tuned, and I'll see you guys soon :) **

**P.S. Have a look at the story updates section of my profile for a look at a new story idea I've come up with! I haven't decided if I want to do it yet so lemme know what you guys think of it :)**


	17. A Man Down

**New Kid On The Block**

Chapter 17 – A Man Down

**Hey everybody! Welcome to chapter 17 of New Kid On The Block. Hopefully I haven't taken TOO long to get this one out. As a treat for you guys this is a pretty long chapter, the longest so far in the story I think! As usual thanks for your reviews, they mean a lot :)**

**Loonaticslover13 – ****Once again thanks a bunch for your review, I love reading them. Oh really? I didn't know that :S do you know the name of that story? Or even just the name of the author so that I can let them know? I'd really appreciate it :). Yeah I know right! Writing the rest of this story is gunna be so weird without Tech! Im gunna miss that lovable mutt ;) And u will have to wait and see! Your guesses are very good though if u catch my drift ;) and im glad u like the AcexLexi moment, I know how much you love your Acexi! :D And thank you so much! Coming from you that means a lot :)**

**Sooo when we last left off the Loonatics had just been assigned a new mission to uncover the mystery of the missile and the anonymous planet. Sounds easy? Far from it! Not only is this mission clouded in mystery but our favourite anthros are a man down. But the show must go on for the Loonatics.**

**Enjoy guys :)**

* * *

Rev looked sadly at Tech as he took his place next to his best friend. Tech was still in a deep coma, and although his health had been stabilised, the doctors still didn't know if the coyote would ever wake up. Rev and the others were trying to keep positive, but as the roadrunner gazed at his friend miserably, in his lifeless state, with various tubes and fluids running into him, the possibility that he might never see the coyote open his green eyes again seemed ever more likely as the days went by.

The toilet flushed in the bathroom not far from Tech's bed and there was a short pause before the door opened and out stepped Blaze. **"Hey Rev…" **he began as he looked around the room to see that Ace and the others were missing. ** "Where have the guys gone?" **asked the tiger.

"**They needed to head back to HQ… You know… To prepare for the mission…" **replied Rev in a lacklustre tone. It wasn't often that Rev spoke at normal pace, it easy to see why this time though.

Blaze looked at his teammate sympathetically as he sat down next to Tech on the opposite side that Rev was. Blaze wasn't very good at the whole comforting words thing, but he figured that he needed to at least try and make his friend feel better. **"Uh… you know Rev… I know Tech would want ya to be fired up before a mission… Not sad…" **the tiger mentally slapped himself, probably wasn't the best thing he could have said.

Rev smiled at Blaze weakly. **"Thanks Blaze." **Thanked the roadrunner, still at a normal talking pace. **"It's just… This is gunna be the first time I've gone on a mission without him…" **the roadrunner continued as he gestured at the unconscious Tech. **"It's not gunna feel right…"**

Blaze nodded understandably at Rev's admission. They were both quiet for around a minute before Rev asked Blaze a rather painful question: **"Have you ever had someone that you're so close to… Who you see as your family… And suddenly they're gone?" **asked the hurt roadrunner, not even attempting to hide the fact that tears wear forming on the brims of his eyes.

This question took Blaze completely by surprise and for a while, he didn't know what to say. But then he looked down at the ring that hugged his middle finger. He read the name engraved on the golden band as he had so many times before: _Kyra. _

Blaze's mind was flooded with images of the girl who, growing up had been his best friend, and his first love. **"Yeah…" **was the tiger's short answer. Blaze smiled to himself as he remembered the beautiful tigress' gorgeous smile, her captivating icy blue eyes and messy brown hair done up into a ponytail with a light blue ribbon. But his fond memories turned to sad ones as he relived the last time he had seen Kyra.

There was silence in the room as both anthros were deep in thought. Blaze now spoke right from his heart: **"Well…" **he began, hesitating slightly. **"From what I've experienced Rev…" **he continued and Rev suddenly looked up to face him. **"The best thing to do is to try not to think about it… I know it sounds hard to do, but you're not gunna feel any better by thinking about it the whole time… So just try to forget about it…" **concluded Blaze. The anthro tiger realised that although he had said those words to Rev, he had mainly said them to himself.

Looking up, Blaze saw that Rev's head was bowed in sadness once again. Forgetting about the person he cared about may have been _his _way of dealing with the pain, reasoned Blaze, but it wasn't Rev's. The tiger now got up from his seat and made his way around to the depressed roadrunner. **"But I'm sure Rev…" **he began as he crouched down so that he was level with Rev **"He'll be awake when we get back." **

These comforting words had an immediate impact on Rev as he picked up his head and looked at Tech happily. **"You're-right!" **the avian exclaimed happily -his usual rapid tone returning suddenly- before turning to look at Blaze. **"Thanks Blaze… You're a good friend" **Rev admitted.

That was the first time Blaze had ever heard those words about him. He unleashed a cracking smile at his teammate before giving a curtly nod of acknowledgement. **"Don't mention it mate… Now whadaya say we go and ace this mission?" **Blaze suggested as he stood back up.

Rev sprang up from his chair, full of life once again. **"You-got-it!" **came his enthusiastic reply. **"We'll-see-ya-when-we-get-back-buddy!" **he added as he turned back to face Tech for a second. Both anthros then got up and left, but Rev had one last look back before leaving the coyote alone in the room.

-o-

_CRASH!_

"**Slam! Ya clumsy oversized cushion! I told you to stop!" **shouted Duck in his typical drama queen fashion. He and Slam had been shifting some new high tech gear (courtesy of Tech) from the coyote's lab to the ship. But lack of communication between the pair had resulted in them dropping the expensive gear.

Slam angrily stomped over to the mallard and looked down on him threateningly. **"Hejida blubi raha utije li!" **grumbled the Tasmanian Devil inaudibly.

"**Whadaya mean I dropped it without warning you?! I said: "STOP"" **retorted Duck as the argument heated up.

"**No je dijint!" **denied Slam.

"**Yes I did!"**

"**NO JE DIJINT!"**

"**YES I DID!"**

Ace had heard the two bickering like and old married couple and had come to see what the fuss was about and thankfully, he interrupted the two warring anthros before it came to blows. **"Man, it's a good ting dat Tech aint here or you'd be dead meat Duck!" **said Ace as he examined the dropped gear before eyeing Duck with a devious smile and cocked eyebrow.

Duck's beak dropped wide open, turning to face his leader in disbelief. He tried to defend himself but no words formed in his throat. He glanced nervously back to look at Slam, who was grinning at him smugly. There was only one thing for Duck to say: **"You're all despicable!"**

Ace chuckled to himself while shaking his head as he left Slam and Duck and carried on towards the large door leading to the hangar. He poked the entry code into the tab on the door and it flew open vertically. He wandered into the large hangar, which was full of pretty much all the Loonatics' transportation such as their bikes and a few ships. As he directed his gaze towards the ship they would be taking on this mission, he caught sight of Lexi who he knew was loading the ship with the supplies and gear. **"Everyting going ok Lex?" **asked the male bunny as he approached his friend.

Lexi looked up at her leader as she picked up a rather large food crate and instantly felt the effect of its weight. **"Oh… Hey Ace… Just… Ugh!" **she stuttered as she tried to get a firm hold of the giant box.

"**Here lemme help ye with dat." **suggested Ace as he reached out to help his struggling teammate.

But Lexi wasn't having any of it. **"No no… Im fine chief!" **she beamed as she finally got a solid grip on the crate and strolled up the ramp leading to the ship's cargo hold.

Ace watched her go, eyes full of fondness. _How is she so damn amazing? _He thought to himself. Lexi's feistiness and determination to prove that she could do any of the physical tasks the boys could was one of the biggest reasons why Ace had fallen so helplessly in love with the doe.

There was a loud thud followed by an "I'm okay!" from Lexi before she re-emerged and wandered down the ramp back towards Ace. **"You know, it's insane how picky we've all become with our food!" **she began with a laugh **"Duck's obsessed with protein shakes, me and you love our fresh veggies, Blaze adores his chicken and mushroom pies **(just like his creator ;))**, Rev has to have about 20 different types of nuts and Slam… Well Slam will eat anything to be fair!" **

Ace chuckled at his friend's observation. **"Meh… Well considerin' dat we're saving the univoise almost every day, I tink we're allowed to be picky!" **replied the buck with a wink which was met by a cute giggle from Lexi. **"So, how's de packing goin'?" **asked the leader.

Lexi had a brief glance around. **"Looks like that was the last crate to go on." **began the doe. **"All that needs to be loaded now is that gear that Slam and Duck are bringing from Tech's lab, although by the sound of things, that's not going so well!" **She observed as, with her excellent hearing, she picked up the sounds of the mallard and Tasmanian devil, _still _arguing.

"**Yep! Not much of a surprise dere!" **joked Ace. Suddenly his mind was drawn to other things and his mood changed. He began to wander around the hangar, deep in thought.

Lexi took note of her leader's odd behaviour. **"Everything okay chief?" **she asked sceptically.

Ace nodded in reply, without looking up.

Lexi had known Ace long enough to know that he _wasn't okay. _She walked over to intercept him in his aimless wandering. **"C'mon Ace, you know you can tell me anything. What's bothering ya?" **she asked.

Ace remained silent for a moment, but finally spilt the beans. **"It's just… Everyting about dis mission feels wrong Lex…" **he began as the doe listened on intently. **"De missile, de fact dat apparently dis planet doesn't exist, a couple of us are still injured from de last mission… And we don't have Tech…"**

Lexi knew exactly how Ace felt, because she felt the same. It was too soon… They weren't ready for this mission…

Despite his doubt, Ace's sense of leadership returned as he noticed Lexi's worried expression. **"Oh well… It's probably just me bein' paranoid. We'll be fine… After all we're de loonatics right?" **encouraged Ace, trying in vain to banish his doubt and ease Lexi's obvious worry.

Ace had so much going on right now, and as his second in command, and the person that cared about him more than anyone, Lexi wanted to try and help ease his discomfort as much as possible. **"Exactly!" **she assured, trying to keep a straight face.

There were a few awkward moments of neither of them knowing what to say. **"Whadaya say we go help the guys?"** suggested Lexi, breaking the deadlock.

Ace smiled at his friend. **"Good plan." **And with that, both the bunny's wandered off to join their teammates.

_Late that night…_

A large bead of sweat ran down the side of Blaze's face before dripping off his jaw and landing with a silent splash on the training room floor. The tiger made somersaulting look easy as he dodged a cannon blast with a backflip. Around a dozen simulated robots ran at him with mindless suicide and with a furious flurry of deadly punches, kicks and swipes, all of them were destroyed.

Blaze inhaled deeply, regaining his composure as his heartbeat slowed back to a regular pace. Although he should've been sleeping considering that the mission was tomorrow, Blaze was still recovering from his ordeal in space and he wanted to make sure he was in as good a shape as possible. He was about to call it a night when suddenly the training room door opened and both Ace and Lexi strolled in.

The two bunnies didn't notice Blaze at first but Lexi's super hearing picked up Blaze's footsteps coming towards them. Startled, she darted around to face whatever it was that was coming towards them, expecting an intruder of some kind but she relaxed as she caught sight of Blaze. **"Jeeesus Blaze you scared the hell outta me!" **admitted the doe as she chuckled light-heartedly.

"**Haha my bad." **apologised the tiger as he joined the two bunnies. **"I just wanted to do a couple of hours training before tomorrow." **He admitted as he opened the training room's fridge and pulled out a bottle of juice. He twisted the cap off before thirstily gulping down half the contents. **"Looks like you guys had the same idea." **

Ace nodded. **"Me an' Lex aint great sleepers when dere's a mission de next mornin'." **The male bunny clarified as he took out his Guardian Strike Sword and inspected the ancient blade.

Lexi continued Ace's explanation herself. **"And so we usually train for most of the night, it actually gets us really psyched up for the mission right Ace?" **

"**Sure does! As if we didn't kick evil's butt enough already!" **the leader of the Loonatics joked in response.

Blaze smiled at the two bunnies. It was great that the two of them were so dedicated to what they did, thought the tiger. _I guess the fact that they're mad for eachother kinda helps _he reasoned humorously. **"Sounds like a good plan!" **he smiled before finishing off his juice and flicking the bottle into the bin. **"Anyway I'll let u guys get on with it." **Blaze said as he picked up his towel and wiped his sweat covered face.

Ace and Lexi looked at eachother and nodded. **"Do you wanna train with us Blaze?" **suggested Lexi.

"**Na you guys go ahead" **he told reassuringly with a smile. **"I've been training for the last two hours anyway." **

"**C'mon man! It'll be fun! We can do round-robin duelling." **argued Ace, trying to persuade the tiger.

Blaze stared at Ace with utter confusion. _What the heck is that? _He thought to himself.

Lexi read his face like a book. **"Round-robin duelling means two of us go head to head, first one to land a hit on the torso or face, stays on and faces the next one of us and the cycle keeps repeating." **clarified the doe.

An enormous grin spread across Blaze's richly coloured face. The competitive fire in his heart started to rage at the thought of this game. **"Let's do it."**

Blaze sat down for a moment to regain his breath while Ace and Lexi stretched. **"You guys go first, I need a rest!" **he said breathlessly.

Both bunnies nodded at him and moved to middle of the room to take their fighting stances. **"I'm gunna smoke ya Lex." **joked Ace with a cheeky wink.

Lexi giggled. **"Not a chance chief!" **she answered light-heartedly.

Both bunnies remained frozen in their stances smiling evilly at eachother, eyes locked, daring the other to make the first move. Ace broke the deadlock, taking a step forward before launching a vicious sideways kick at Lexi's torso. The doe blocked the attack with her forearm and counter attacked, rushing forwards and aiming a punch at Ace's chest. But the buck dodged out of the way, regained his balance and swung another kick. This time it was aimed higher at Lexi's head, but the pink coloured bunny was too fast. She ducked and rolled sideways in one brilliant and athletic movement before putting distance between her and Ace by doing a series of backward summersaults, credit of her history as a cheerleader. She landed as gracefully as a dove and grinned at her leader mockingly. **"Oh come on chief! I know you're better than that!" **

Ace smiled at her coolly. **"You aint seen nothin' yet… **_**doll**_**!" **he taunted playfully, using the one name he knew Lexi HATED being called.

Lexi's eyes suddenly turned pink. **"Oh no… You did NOT just call me that Ace!" **complained the doe, playing along with the banter. **"You realise of course this means war… **_**Doc**_**!" **she retorted mischievously.

"**Oh it's on now!" **chuckled Ace as his eyes turned yellow, he sprinted full pelt towards the waiting Lexi.

Blaze watched intently as the two bunnies battled it out, trying to land a hit on eachother. They were so evenly matched noted the enthralled tiger, there was hardly any difference between the two of them. _I guess that's what happens when you train together almost every day…_

Blaze noticed that despite the fact that they were extremely similar in skill, both Ace and Lexi had their strengths. Ace was stronger, and could throw a bigger variety of moves at Lexi because he had been doing martial arts all his life. But Lexi was faster and more acrobatic because she was a dancer. It was these strengths that eventually had to be the difference between the two bunnies reasoned Blaze.

After a couple of minutes of fast and furious fighting, the critical first blow was finally struck. After two minutes of intense combat, Lexi started to notice that Ace's swings and strikes were getting slower and less frequent. _He's tiring! _Thought the doe jubilantly. This was her chance…

All Lexi needed was for Ace to leave himself vulnerable and she would strike, and that moment finally came… Ace suddenly stumbled backwards in apparent fatigue as he pulled back for a heavy swing at Lexi. The doe pounced on this moment of weakness, lunging forward with a deadly fist aimed between Ace's eyes. But as she lunged, Ace suddenly and miraculously regained his balance and grabbed her fist with his own hand. Lexi's eyes opened wide in shock and realisation. _He tricked me! _

Ace flashed his white teeth with an evil grin, he had her now. Lexi was completely stunned with shock at having been fooled; she was in big trouble…

Ace finally ended the brilliant duel by yanking Lexi towards him by the fist he had caught, pulling her off balance and at the same time, he drove forward with a powerful punch, smashing into her stomach.

Lexi felt the air rush out of her lungs as Ace's fist connected. She gasped as her legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor, but before she could hit the ground, she was scooped up by Ace's arms. The buck helped her to stand back up as their eyes met. **"Nice duel dere Lex, ya almost had me a few of times!" **commended Ace, impressed as ever at how skilled his female counterpart had become in the two years he had known her.

Lexi took a couple of seconds to compose herself and allow oxygen to flow back into her lungs. **"Yeah nice one chief." **she smiled happily. **"Clever trick you did there!" **she said admittedly. Although disappointed that she lost, Ace was the one person she didn't mind being beaten by. He was the one that taught her all she knew after all, and although she was basically his equal now, she still viewed him as her superior… _just_. Training with Ace was one of the things she enjoyed most, ever since her life had been changed by the meteor.

Ace smiled at her compliment. **"Danks Lex. You've gotten so good dese days, I have ta improvise!" **he admitted proudly.

Lexi smiled shyly at her leader's commendation. **"Thanks Ace… I'll make sure I get you next time though!" **she called back jokingly as she walked over to where Blaze was sitting.

Blaze glared at her, clearly impressed. **"Bloody hell! I can't believe how good you are Lexi!" **he beamed as he handed her a drink from the fridge.

"**Haha thanks! That's what two years of hard training does to a girl!" **she joked as she accepted the bottle from the tiger. **"Your turn Blaze." **Said the sweating bunny as she took a swig from her bottle. **"Do me a favour and kick his ass." **She mischievously added.

Blaze chuckled as he stood up from his chair and stretched. **"I'll do my best." **he promised before making his way over to join Ace.

"**Nice fight there mate." **Blaze admitted as he chucked a bottle of water at Ace. **"Pulling a fast one on a girl though, that's low even for you!" **he said sarcastically with a chuckle.

Ace grinned and squirted some of the water into his mouth. **"Haha, but Lex aint no ordinary girl so it's fine!" **was his defense as threw the bottle on the floor behind him.

Blaze laughed, not only at the humour tinted in Ace's remark but the fact that it had blatantly shown his affection for Lexi. **"Okay, you ready?"**

Ace nodded with a strange determination. **"You bet I am, been waitin' a long time for dis." **The bunny admitted as he stretched his muscles. **"I still have ta pay ye back for de beatin' ya gave me when we foist met!" **he added.

Blaze recalled the events of when he had first met the Loonatics. The worry and the confusion he had felt, the feeling of being backed into a corner with no way out, but most of all he remembered the epic fight he had with Ace. **"Oh yeah… I don't think I ever mentioned how much I enjoyed kicking your tail in did I?" **he smiled jokingly as he adopted his trademark fighting stance.

"**Haha, you're going down tiger…" **threatened Ace as he took his own stance.

There was a Mexican standoff as the two male anthros circled eachother, the tension increasing more and more with every passing second. This time it was Blaze who made the first strike. He dashed forwards with lightning speed and threw a punch at the unprepared Ace. The bunny managed to hop backwards just in time to avoid the attack. Blaze was now vulnerable and Ace tried to take advantage of this by going on the attack. He rolled forwards and swiped a kick at Blaze's undefended legs, but the tiger simply jumped to avoid the kick and did a backflip before landing solidly on his feet.

Ace gave Blaze no time to think as he launched another assault, this time with an incredible variation of attacks. Ace hoped that his vast variety of moves would overwhelm Blaze and leave him an opening to land a blow, but the tiger blocked or dodged every single one of them.

Ace eventually backed off as he began to feel himself tire. He took a few tentative steps backward in order to give himself some space, remaining on guard in case Blaze counter attacked. Blaze's biggest strength in combat was definitely his unbelievably quick reflexes. Ace was left flabbergasted that the tiger had managed to fend off every single one of his attacks. _I've got te let him attack me now… If I do all de attackin', I'll exhaust myself and then I'll be easy pickings. _Ace's reasoning was definitely sound, so he now waited for Blaze to make the next move. The bunny prepared himself for an onslaught as Blaze began running at him…

Off to the side, Lexi watched in complete awe as the duel went on. She was amazed that neither of them had landed a hit yet. _They're both so fast! It's making my head hurt! _She thought incredulously. It really was a thrilling and entertaining contest. Both Ace and Blaze were constantly sharing the roles of attacker and defender, trading punches, swipes, kicks, and flips all over the place. It could not have been any closer.

The intense fighting raged on for well over 5 minutes, neither of them tiring, neither of them giving in. But eventually, both of them began to feel fatigue kick in. Their punches became more lumbering, their dodges slower, their blocks less efficient, and their breathing heavy. Both of them began to wince in pain as lactic acid seeped into their tired muscles. Even though the two Loonatics were the very definition of the word fitness, it was impossible for their stamina not to dwindle after such intense fighting. The question now, was who would break first?

The answer to that question was finally decided...

Ace could feel every fibre in his body aching, but he refused to give up. He had to end it _now_… He pulled back and shot an arrow straight punch at Blaze. If he had been facing anyone other than the tiger, Ace's punch probably would've connected. But even in his exhausted state, Blaze's lightning quick reflexes didn't fail him. He smoothly dodged to his left as Ace's fist flew by. _My turn._ In a fast and brilliant movement, Blaze brought his left leg up and smashed his heavy boot into Ace's shoulder, his _bad _shoulder, knocking his leader sideways. Ace groaned in agony as pain shot up his arm from the blow. Blaze had held back from kicking Ace's shoulder with full force to prevent hurting him too badly, but he still felt bad exploiting Ace's injury. But it was the bunny's only weakness and in battle, weaknesses have to be taken advantage of. Blaze finally finished it by spinning round and using his other leg to deliver a mighty heel kick to Ace's side. The bunny collapsed to the ground, clutching his afflicted shoulder, it was over…

Blaze immediately knelt to the ground to help his leader. **"Sorry about that Ace, you okay?" **he asked concerned.

Ace chuckled light-heartedly, although the initial blow had hurt his shoulder, the pain was rapidly vanishing. **"I'm better dan ok Blaze! Dat was one of de best fights I've ever had!" **he exclaimed as he stood back up.

Blaze inwardly sighed with relief, glad that Ace wasn't visibly mad at him for taking advantage of his injury. **"Yeah, it was pretty awesome!" **He admitted, still buzzing with adrenaline. He had thoroughly enjoyed that fight. Having Ace as an opponent was great because their fighting styles were very similar, and he could push the tiger to the limit of his capabilities. **"Sorry about the…" **he apologised, gesturing to Ace's shoulder.

"**Forget about it." **waved off Ace with a smile. **"It was a great end to a great fight. Just don't be surprised if next time I kick ya in de balls!" **he added jokingly. The two of them laughed as Lexi came over and joined them with drinks and towels.

The three friends continued training well into the night. Even though they were insanely tired, they didn't care because they were having so much fun. By the time they had been forced to stop -because they were literally in pain from all the intense fighting-, they had all won roughly the same amount of duels. They had now been sat down for the last couple of hours, laughing about the night's events and generally talking when the training room door suddenly whooshed and in stepped Slam, Duck and Rev.

"**Hey-you-guys! We-were-wondering-where-you-where! Well-to-be-honest-I-kinda-had-a-sneaky-suspicion-y ou-guys-would-be-in-here-but-Slam-and-Duck-weren't -sure-and-while-I'm-on-that-subject-haha-you-two-I -was-right-but-anyway-back-on-subject, here-you-are!" **blabbered Rev as all the others just stared at him blankly.

"**Jeez have you guys been in here all night? What a bunch of dorks! Why would you wanna spend all night training when you could be getting beauty sleep like me?" **asked a smug Duck, his remark was naturally met by scowls all around.

But as usual, Lexi had a witty comeback. **"Because number 1: We want to train so that we don't get our sorry butts kicked on this mission and number 2: You're the only one on the team who actually **_**needs**_** beauty sleep Duck…" **

Ace, Blaze, Slam and Rev all gave the humiliated Duck a grin that said: "you just got destroyed!"

"**Yebiye bablu niada!" **exclaimed Slam as he pointed at the digital clock mounted on the wall.

Ace's eyes widened. **"Eight thoity nine? Damn we should be up in space and on our way right now! Alright gang, quick breakfast and den we gotta jet!"**

They were all making their way towards the door when Blaze sniffed his armpit and grimaced. **"Maybe a quick shower might be a good idea too chief!"**

Ace sniffed the air and caught a powerful whiff of BO. **"Sounds like a plan. Let's move!" **he laughed.

All of them filed out of the training room. Rev, Duck and Slam all rushed to the kitchen for breakfast, while Ace, Lexi and Blaze all dashed to their rooms for a much need shower.

* * *

**So there we go guys! I personally really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you folks enjoyed the fruits of my labour. :)**

**Soo, I'm not really sure when the next chapter will be up, hopefully within the next 3 weeks so please be patient! :)**

**Pretty pleeease review this chapter guys, I'd really appreciate it. Over the last few chapters my reviews have kinda fallen off a bit and I know that's bound to happen with a long story like this one and I know I should be happy that im getting reviews at all but it really is awesome to hear what you guys think of the story so pleeease leave a review! Thanks guys :)**

**As a final note I'd like to say a massive thanks to Keeanga for the awesome drawing she did for me of Blaze (Which is now the cover for this story) :D**

**Thanks again guys.**


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